


Echoes from the Past

by mchammer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Jedi Reader, ManDadlorian, i said fuck it and did my own thing since disney did too, i would love comments because im a vain hoe who needs validation, little bit of made up lore, the slowest of slow burns baby, there will be knights of the republic references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 89,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23922196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mchammer/pseuds/mchammer
Summary: The Mandalorian finds himself in an old Imperial prison on an outer rim world. Thanks to the help of a courageous but mysterious woman, Mando, and the child are able to escape unharmed from the clutches of the Empire. Soon The Mandalorian finds that the fates have brought the two of you together as your mysterious past may help lead the Mandalorian and his son on a path towards answers, and hopefully not just for themselves.(This story will be updating much more slowly, or to the best of my abilities, okayloveyoubye).
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/You
Comments: 40
Kudos: 134





	1. I-the prisoner

**Author's Note:**

> this is my very very first fic on here! I would really appreciate any feedback, comments, or kudos. just for a little backstory, my reader character is an original alien race that I made up. even though I am positive that I remember reading old star wars comic books with a type of alien race like it. (if you remember too let me know!) 
> 
> this will be based on a story postseason one after a little time as past. there are going to be some very heavy knights of the old republic references because I love KOTOR with all my heart. there may be a few small typos because I changed that tense halfway through. sorry in advance.
> 
> Please enjoy :)

You let out a heavy sigh as you stared out at the small sliver of light that shone brightly into the prison cell. You slowly pulled your legs closer to your chest on the cold hard ground beneath you. You had lost count of the number of days you had been trapped in this cell. You always tried to annoy the guards, whom you saw only once a day, into telling you something, anything of the world outside these walls. It was a useless effort but you continued to pester them because if nothing else you loved causing trouble. 

In the time since you had arrived, you had attempted to run out the door dozens of times. You always made sure to take as many of the stormtroopers guards down with you in your fruitless attempts at freedom. Every time you ended back in the same place with more injuries but you would be damned before they would break your spirit. 

Today was like any other. They had brought you what you supposed was food but tasted more like sand, and slid it under the door not bothering to check on you. In your time here you had eaten just enough to keep yourself alive and nothing more. Today you chose to eat nothing, ignoring the tray completely. You sat in the corner and passed the hours by watching out the window and counting the birds that passed by.

As you gazed out the window, there was a loud commotion outside in the hall outside your room. You could hear the guards in what sounded like a fight. A lot of guards. More than normal around this makeshift prison. You walked to the door and tried to peer out of the small slot in the door that the guards used that was the only other opening in the room. You couldn’t see anything through the mass of bodies, except something shiny on the floor. There were more guards than you’d ever seen around here. You were startled and jumped back when there was a sudden pounding on the door. 

“Back up you scum,” one of the guards barked through the door. You didn’t move a muscle, ready to pounce if they tried to do anything to you. 

The door swung open and six guards walked in blasters raised in all directions. They immediately pushed you to the ground as one held you down on the ground with his heavy boot. You struggled against him but they were much stronger than you were and it was a pointless effort. More guards walked in dragging a body covered head to toe in armor in and threw it down carelessly against the opposite wall. One guard looked at the motionless body and reached down towards him. It looked like he was about to remove the helmet. The captain of the guards swatted his hand away harshly. 

“You heard the boss, that’s his job.” 

The guard huffed. The guard on top of you eased up his weight and you tried to get and scurry away but he grabbed you by the neck of your robe and shoved you down hard kicking you in the side. You rolled over clutching your side in pain and waited for the door to close. 

Once you were sure the guards had retreated, you slowly approached the figure on the ground. As you got closer, you let out a tiny gasp. You couldn’t believe your eyes. In front of you, apparently unconscious, was unmistakably a Mandalorian. You never thought you would see a Mandalorian in person. You had heard the legends of the great Mandalorian warriors in the tales of the Old Republic but you were sure they had been wiped out by the Empire. You remembered rumors of their religion and the strict code they were supposed to follow. You also remembered that they were the greatest most elite fighters the galaxy had ever seen and one was sitting just a mere foot from you. 

You couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement build up in you. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to you in months. If you were going to manage to break out of here, surely the Mandalorian was your ticket out. You sat next to the figure. You were sure they weren’t dead. Right? The guards wouldn’t have thrown a dead Mandalorian in with you...unless they were trying to test you with some twisted prank. You shook your head, not letting your mind wander further. 

You slowly put your hand on their chest and you felt the slow rise and fall of their breathing. Good. So, they were alive. Now what?

—-♡—-

It had been several hours as you figured. The sun was starting to set and the moons were just peaking out. You could see the dusk sky from the window. You had been checking on the Mandalorian every few minutes for the past few hours praying they would wake soon. You were too intimidated by the stories in your memory to attempt to remove any of their armor. You knew it was a part of their religion. And you would hate to make your circumstances worse by pissing off a Mandalorian. Plus you were hoping, should you play your cards right, to hopefully make a deal with the Mandalorian that would gain your freedom. After what seemed like an eternity, you saw the Mandalorian shift and let out a long grunt. You rushed over to their side. 

“You might want to take it slow, they got you pretty good”

You could see as their visor tilted up towards you that the figure was trying to register who you were and where exactly they ended. You could see that they were registering the situation as they started to sit up. You knelt beside them and tried to help, again they shook you off.

“You’re in an old Imperial prison, on the planet Zygerria.” you paused for a second. “Hopefully you knew that second part.”

The Mandolorian did not reply. He started to stand but let out a gasp of pain and leaned over clutching the wall of support. You tried to help steady them but again they just waved you off and headed for the door setting to work examining it. 

“Can I ask what brings you to this fine establishment?” 

The Mandalorian turned his head to look at you for a moment and considered what you said before silently turning back and working. 

“You’re a Mandalorian.” You couldn’t help yourself. And the excitement enters your voice. “I’ve heard tales, legends of your people. You were great warriors. The best in the galaxy. I didn’t think there were any of you left now.” You stop yourself, realizing that this might not be what he wants to hear. 

“You are obviously wrong.” The Mandalorian spoke in a low, husky voice. It was maybe a little too obvious that he was still in a great deal of pain. 

“If there is anyone who can break us out of here, I trust it would be a Mandalorian.” 

He turns to look at you as if he is surprised. 

“There is no us.” 

“Course there is. You came into my cell may I remind you. That makes us a team.” You felt your blind confidence take over. Your desperation to escape this place would make you say or do anything you possibly could. “I can help you, you know? I am a stronger fighter.”

The Mandalorian turned to look at you and your rather small figure. You had gotten much smaller since being imprisoned. Being here wasn’t the healthiest way of living. 

“Then why are you still in here?” The Mandalorian turned back around, dismissing you. 

“I’ll have you know Mandalorian, I’ve escaped dozens of times. I just can't seem to-”

“Actually escape?” The Mandalorian seemed amused by this and it made you angry. 

“Well, yes. But I do have a mental map of this entire prison in my head. Good luck trying to get out of this maze without it.” You turned you back to him hoping that would get his attention. 

Without much warning, he crossed the small space in a step and grabbed your arm.

“Do you know where the medical lab is? Can you get me there quickly?” It became obvious that he was very desperate as soon as he said it.

“Yes, of course,” Flustered, you added. “I didn’t think Mandalorians were supposed to get attached to anyone.”

He ignored you and reached for something in his boot. “You may want to stand back.”

“Wait! I’ll go with you wherever you ask, but please promise to get me off this planet. Please. If I stay here I’ll die. Please.” You tried your best not to sound like you were begging, even though you knew you sounded completely desperate. 

The Mandalorian gave one nod in your direction before pushing you against the back wall and shielding you with his armored body. There was a loud blast and you felt the debris and heat graze your leg. You opened your eyes. The door was gone and in its place was a large hole. To your amazement, the blast had been surprisingly quiet for completely destroying the entire cell door. 

“Huh, that was….easy.” You mused.

“Here. You will want this.” The Mandalorian handed you a long metal baton. He paused, “You can fight, right?”

“‘ ‘Course.” 

“Then let’s go.” 

You didn’t want to admit that compared to most around here you were not the strongest fighter. You were vicious and attacked with all you might, but you could never win a fight without your weapon of choice. And you were completely lost when it was just fists and kicks. You always blamed it on your eyes, since they were always giving you away, but that was not entirely the case.

The Mandalorian was stalking down the hall to where the guards were sitting and gambling with one another, seemingly unaware of the prison break happening. He silently walked up behind them and with almost no effort he took out all four guards in a matter of seconds. You arrived just as the last guard fell. 

“Well, it looks like you got this handled.” You tried to smile as you stepped over the bodies. “You know I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are going to be a lot more of these guys where you want to go.” 

“I know. I am counting on it.” The Mandalorian almost sounded excited. He walked across the room to where the lockers with all your belongings were kept. He began going through each one throwing things on the ground carelessly. He threw a small brown bag on the ground.

“My bag!” you exclaimed. You pulled it open and saw to your surprise many of the possessions you had been caught with remained untouched. You reached in and grasped your retractable vibroblade, the only weapon you had a decent amount of training with. You also pulled out your large, round, dark glasses that completely covered your eyes. You silently thanked the maker that they were still there, it made it impossible for anyone to see your ever-changing eyes. You smile as you put them on and sigh with relief. “Hey look Mandalorian, we match!” He didn’t turn to look at you instead he was reaching out the window throwing something. There was a rather large explosion across the way. A distraction, you realized a second later.

“We have about a minute.”

“Right. Then follow me.”

You took out your blade and began to run down the hallway cautiously stopping outside the door and pointing towards it to indicate that was the way. Instead of stopping the Mandalorian kicked it down in one stride to the surprise of the guards on the other side. Without stopping to think you jumped on one of them stabbing them quickly through the chest as the Mandalorian blasted the other three to the ground in quick succession. 

“This way!” you called over your shoulder as you charged down the hallway and then to the right without thinking. You ran straight into a stormtrooper who grabbed you by the arm and lifted you high above the ground before throwing you down as hard as possible. You stumbled up and kicked him in the knees before stabbing him with your straight through him in the chest.

“Duck!” You heard his voice from behind. You hit the floor without thinking and several shots rang out before you felt an arm grab you and you were running over several fallen bodies. 

“It’s up the hall. To the left. Fourth door, the big one. Marked with the blue square.” 

The Mandalorian stepped in front of you and without hesitating approached the door and knocked it down with one swift kick. You approached the door more slowly, making sure there were no other guards coming behind. You decided to lock the door by destroying the electric box next to it you had just come through to make it more difficult for the guards to follow. 

“I don’t think we have much time. This better be important-” You stopped when you saw what the Mandalorian had come for, or what you assumed he had come for. A small green creature with gigantic green ears, lying peacefully in one of the medical bays that was monitoring the creature's life force. It was small, no more than a child but its tiny forehead was so wrinkled with tiny white hairs on the top of its small head, you couldn't help as a smile played at your lips. You felt your knees growing weak. You could not believe the feeling coursing through your veins. The connection that you felt was so powerful, you felt as if you needed to sit down. You knew what it was but it could not be, this couldn’t be happening. So many thoughts and scenarios ran through your head that you barely noticed the Mandalorian pick up the creature and tuck him underneath his arm. 

“Which way?” The Mandalorian asked impatiently. You couldn't respond. Your head was too full.

“I asked you which way.” The Mandalorian was practically yelling now.

“This. This is why you’re here,” you signaled to the creature who was still sleeping peacefully in the Mandalorian's arm. 

The Mandalorian appeared confused by your sudden interest. 

“Yes.” He replied curtly. 

“You are this creature's caretaker,” you stated.

“Yes,” he replied again. There was a loud crashing from down the hall and you knew they were coming. There would be too many for the two of you to take on. And this creature needed to escape, and the Mandalorian with it. 

“Go. Out that door in the back. Up to the ladder to the roof. You will see the hanger from there across the way. You should be able to sneak in and grab a ship. Go.” You turned to face the door, knowing how this would end. “I will buy you as much time as I can.” 

The Mandalorian tilted his visor as the noises got louder from somewhere down the hall. you took a step towards him and grabbed his arm fiercely. 

“Promise me one thing, Mandalorian. Promise me you will not let the Empire get its hands on this creature. No matter what. Kill it if you have to. KIll it before you allow the Empire to get its hands on it again. Promise me.”

The Mandalorian didn’t react to this before there was a crash, followed by voice closer than before and voices yelling for you to surrender. 

You walked to the door and took out your vibroblade. “Go, now! Run!”

The Mandalorian had questions but knew he was out of time. He turned and left with one final look at you. You nodded in his direction before turning and hitting your vibroblade on the controls sealing the door to the room behind you knowing you had just sealed your destiny.


	2. ii - the lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorian wants answers, you’re not sure if you can provide them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things really get going here, people! There are a few KOTOR references. Again, the reader's race is something that I swear was in a few comic books growing up, but I haven’t found any proof of that. So it's completely made up piece of lore. We will be exploring that more in-depth throughout this.

It was a blur how the Mandalorian had ended up just meters away from his ship in a shootout with still more guards. He felt that for once luck was on his side. He had been able to escape with the child and hail his ship which was being piloted by Cara. She had been circling close to the prison just waiting, and secretly praying, to that his signal would come through. Lo and behold she had arrived just in time to provide back-up fire from the ship trying to carve a path for him and the child through the endless swarm of guards. But they were overwhelmed. And Mando knew he couldn’t make a run for it without taking out a few more guards. 

In the background, Mando could see the stormtroopers working to set up an electromagnetic pulse cannon and he knew that if they fitted it, his ship would never be able to take off. And they would be stuck trying to fight off the hordes of Imps. 

As Cara descended the ramp to provide cover fire many of the imps seemed to be retreating. The Mandalorian knew it was to escape the blast of the canon which would take out just about anything in its path. Himself included. It was now or never. He dodged out from behind his cover and sprinted as fast as he could manage while firing his blaster without aim. Cara seemed to have gotten the hint and was providing cover fire as he reached the ship and ran up the ramp and ducked inside. He placed the child down safely inside. 

“We need to go. NOW!” He shouted. It was a matter of seconds before they would have the cannon up and running. 

“Hey wait, look!” Cara pointed in the direction of the cannon. To the Mandalorians' surprise, the woman from earlier was limping slowly out in front of the cannon. The Imps were firing in her direction, but all the blaster fire seemed to just miss. 

You were holding your side tightly, which had a rather large bloodstain soaking through your cloak. The guards were now at a safe distance, seeming to not care that you were blocking their path, knowing that in a matter of seconds you would be taken out. The cannon had begun to swirl its bright colors, ready to fire. The Mandalorian knew it was no use trying to escape it. But he watched as you slowly clenched and unclenched your fist and then slowly, as if in sync with the cannon. You lifted your arm. It reminded the Mandalorian of something. It reminded him of the child. His breath hitched in his throat as he watched you hold your hand out in front of the large swirl on energy about to erupt towards them. 

As if watching something out of a dream he watched as the cannon fired and the massive pulse of energy surged forward just a few meters from the cannon. Then it stopped. The pulse didn't move forward. It levitated in mid-air as if being held in by something. The woman began to scream as if she was in a great amount of pain.

With your eyes closed, you let out a loud cry before you jerked your arm as far forward as you could use all the strength you could muster down to the very bones of your body. The pulse surged and flew back towards its origin hitting all the troopers sending them flying in all directions destroying the cannon in a large blast of fire. 

Both Cara and Mando sat stunned for a second. They looked towards you in shock. You turned around and faced them. You wanted to tell them that they needed to run. They needed to save the child. But you swayed on your feet finding the ability to form words impossible and collapsed to the ground. 

“Take off. I’m grabbing her.” The Mandalorian commanded. Without being told twice Cara whirled around to start the ship. 

The Mandalorian rushed forward. He ran to your crumpled body, the bloodstain on your side was growing larger. He leaned down and he hoisted you up in his arms and turned to run back. He heard the first blaster shot and saw it hit a few away. He felt another hit him in the back of his armor and he stumbled forward. He steadied himself and made sure you were secure in his arms and began running in earnest. He heard the Razor Crest’s engines roar to life. They made it to the ramp and he hoisted you both up as more blaster fire hit around them. He walked into the ship and placed you down on the ground hitting the button to seal the ramp behind them.

“Watch her.” He commented to the child and climbed the ladder to the cockpit. 

“Get us outta here, now!” He yelled at Cara as she furiously pressed at the buttons.

“Oh yeah, I know. I’m trying.” Cara snapped as she pulled the final lever and they snapped back as the ship took off. The Razor Crest clipped the top of the hangar bay doors and made a horrible metallic grinding noise. 

“Hey watch it! Watch it!”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry, I know.” Cara looked guilty as they continued their upward path into the sky towards space well out of harm's way. It was silent for a moment without any enemy fire and no sudden movement. Both took a deep breath of relief. 

Cara turned to The Mandalorian, “One of us needs to tend to our guest.”

The Mandalorian knew that it meant him. Without a word he stood and turned to leave. “I am only trusting you this time to fly my ship. Just this time”

“Sure, whatever you say, Mando.” Cara rolled her eyes at him.

Irked by this but also feeling a pressing need to question the mystery woman he left. He climbed down the stairs. He grabbed the med-pack on the way down expecting to have to tend to a serious wound. To his surprise he found you sitting upright, staring at the child with her huge dark tinted glasses, smiling intently. You reached out to take his small hand.

“I thought, I really thought I-” you were just about to grab his teeny, tiny hand when the Mandalorian stepped in front of you blocking the child. He did not trust a stranger near him. Especially not one that could be a sorcerer. An enemy. 

“Mandalorian, you saved me.” He couldn’t see behind your tinted glasses. But you looked confused. “Why?”

“Are you complaining?”

“No, no. I just didn’t think your people did that. Rescue people.”

“Again, you are wrong.”

You don't reply to this. Instead, you peer around his leg to the creature and then attempt to stand up. You clutch your side and seem surprised when there is no pain. 

“I was shot. I - how - I was shot with a blaster.” You pointed to the bloodstain on your robes.

The Mandalorian looked down at the kids and smirked. The child’s abilities never failed to impress him. “Don’t ask me,” was all he replied. 

You understood though because you looked to the child and nodded, “Thank you, little one.” You said it so softly Mando was not sure you said it at all. “Thank you, Mandalorian, for rescuing me. And for getting me off that planet. I owe you a great debt.”

“You can start by telling me why you sacrificed yourself?” The Mandalorian offered you a hand and you took it steadying yourself on your feet. You were still touching your side thinking a wound was going to reappear at any moment. 

“Him?” you stood up straight and pointed at the child peeking out behind Mando’s leg. And looked the Mandalorian straight on through your dark tinted round glasses. ”That child is very special. I think you know that, don’t you Mandalorian?” You smirked at him as you ran your fingers through your long brown hair which was a mess of knots around your face. The Mandalorian noticed as you tried to detangle your hair several small scars along your neck and arms. And one right above your glasses along your eyebrow. It was now obvious to him that you had seen your share of fighting. 

“Take off your glasses.” He said it before he thought it through, he was more curious than anything. He wanted to know if his speculation about you was accurate. You seemed slightly startled by this.

“Why?”

“So I can see your eyes.” 

You reacted slowly but didn’t argue and reached up to pull the glasses down to hang around your neck. You knew this was inevitable. Everyone who met you wanted to see for themselves if the legends were true. Your eyes were a fantastic shade of orange. Mando was right. And his curiosity overcame him. 

“I’ve never seen one of your kind before. I always thought it was just a myth.” He stared intently at your eyes as they began to change to a much darker shade of orange. “What does orange mean?” 

You didn’t answer and instead, he looked directly in your eyes and saw them eyes flash a light color pink before returning to a lighter orange. 

“Take off your helmet and I’ll tell you, Mandalorian.” With that, you slid the glasses back up in a defiant way covering up your eyes which had turned to a shade of bright, nearly neon blue as you stared straight back at him. “I guess we are both learning that the galaxy is much bigger than we thought.”

“I was under the impression the Empire destroyed your home planet. I thought your kind didn’t survive the war.” He prodded. 

“I haven’t been to my homeworld since I was a small child. I would not know.” 

“Do you always wear glasses, to cover...your eyes?” The Mandalorian asked as he pointed to your face. 

“Do you always wear your helmet?” you challenged him. There was a long pause as he waited for an answer. “I didn’t think you would be so interested in my history, Mandalorian. But I can assure you, there is nothing of interest.” 

Mando thought to ask more. But he could tell by your tone that you were not going to willingly tell the Mandalorian this information. Plus he felt there were more pressing matters he needed from you.

“How did you know about the child’s….abilities?” The Mandalorian never spoke this much to another person. But he had too many important questions for this woman. And he needed them answered.

“So he has done this before then?” you looked towards him eagerly. “He has done things? Unexplainable things? Remarkable things? Things you might even call unnatural?”

“Yes.”

You leaned over and knelt looking at the child. “For so long, I thought-” you were cut off by a small sob in your throat. You looked up at the Mandalorian. “For so long I thought I was the only one. That I was the last one.” You stood and faced the Mandalorian. He couldn’t see your eyes but he saw your bottom lip tremble as you looked straight at him. “I thought I was all alone with this.” You let out a sob and leaned into the Mandalorian. Leaning against his shoulder and letting a soft cry leak out. Mando was not used to this kind of behavior or this kind of contact, so it took him a moment to react to your touch. He slowly put his arms on either side and grabbed your arms and pulling you away to look more closely at you. 

“With what? Alone with what?” He stared down at where he would have seen your eyes.

“Those things that he can do-” you took a deep breath and reached out your hand and a wooden cup sitting next to them began to shift atop a crate, then suddenly flew across the ship straight into your hand. “I can do them too.” 

The child let out a loud giggle of excitement. He waddled around Mando’s leg towards you. Mando quickly scooped him up from the ground. The child was not happy about this as he squirmed and squealed in his arms trying to reach you. Mando’s mind began to swirl. You were a Jedi, one of the enemies he had been warned about. If you were a Jedi had he found the people that he was searching for after all? Was this who would now care for the child?

“Are you a Jedi?”

The woman looked at him stunned, almost repulsed by his comment. “No! Of course not.”

“But the Jedi are the ones with these abilities.”

“There are many who bear these abilities and do not call themselves Jedi, my friend.” 

“Then you must know of the child’s people? You must know where he is from?”

You turned to face him. Without seeing your eyes he somehow could still tell that a deep sorrow filled you. “I’m sorry, I do not.” 

“How did you know when you first saw him? You were willing to die to make sure the Empire didn’t have him.” 

You bit your bottom lip and glanced at the child, no longer willing to look straight at Mando. He could tell you were thinking over what to say very carefully. “I know...of the legend of Jedi, from the old stories the slave children would tell. I remember them well.” Mando thought you seemed to be convincing yourself as much as you were trying to convince him this was true. “I - well I know - I could tell he was important.”

“How?” The Mandalorian continued to question you he knew you weren’t telling the truth.

“Why else would you have been there to rescue him?”You looked at the Mandalorian and smiled. Mando knew this wasn’t the truth. And you bit your lower lip trying to conceal any more knowledge you might possess. 

“Do you know of a record of the Jedi?” He pressed you still.

“No, the Empire destroyed all traces of the Jedi as soon as the Emperor came into power. As far as I know, there are no records of them that you will be able to find.”

Mando knew there was something you weren't telling him. He wasn’t sure if you were lying to him, or if you were just omitting a larger piece of your story. He didn’t know which one was worse. But he had little choice but to trust you. This was the first time in months that they had found any sort of lead towards the child’s people. It was the first time that Mando had seen another person use the abilities that he thought only the child possessed. He couldn’t pretend that finding you in that prison didn’t feel like a chance meeting. 

You leaned down and cautiously raised your hand to meet the tiny hand of the child’s. Mando watched as the child’s eyes grew big and he let out an excited squeal of delight as your hands touched. 

“He is very strong in the Force.” You commented, still holding the little one's hand. 

“The what?” Mando asked confused

“The Force.” You stated, blankly. “It is what one might call his abilities, though it is a bit more complicated than that, isn’t little one?” 

The child began to push his way out of Mando’s arms and towards the woman with all his tiny might. Mando finally relented and handed him to you. You smiled graciously as you held him in your arms. You lifted him in front of you and the child placed both his hands on the side of your face. 

“You are special, aren’t you?” you seemed to only be talking to the child. “My name is Y/N by the way. Y/N Y/L/N.” You looked up at the Mandalorian expectantly. 

“Can you help him?” The Mandalorian was unsure why he was asking. He didn’t feel like he needed more help. Especially from this stranger. “Can you help him control it?” 

You slowly took off your glasses without glancing at the Mandalorian. You looked just at the child as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered. The Mandalorian noticed that your eyes were a deep shade of purple. It was a long moment of this - you staring intently at the child as he giggled and cooed back at you. 

“I never learned. I never - well, I was…. Never properly trained.” You finally answered him. “I have barely used the Force in all this time.” You stopped and looked up at the Mandalorian, your eyes still a dark shade of purple. “But I can do my best. For him.” You looked back down at the child and Mando saw all the love in the galaxy in the way you looked at the child. “I will help you in whatever way I can Mandalorian, that I swear to you now.”

There was a noise behind the two of you and Cara jumped down the ladder and landed in front of them. 

“We should be clear, for now at least.” She smiled, winking at Mando. She looked over at you as you continued to look just at the child still in your arms. Cara extended her hand. “Name’s Cara. I’m the help Mando get-out-of-trouble friend around here.” Cara looked at you and noticed your eyes change color as you looked from the child to her.

“Whoa. I - I didn’t know your kind actually existed. You’re a xulkit, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” was all you replied. 

“And you can also move objects with your mind?” Cara sounded excited. 

“If that is how you would like to think of it.” You didn’t look towards Cara or Mando and instead placed the child on the ground, who let out an exasperated cry. 

“Well, this solves your problem doesn’t it Mando?” Cara turned towards him and smiled. “You’ve found the kids' people.”

Mando had said more in the past ten minutes than he had in the last five years to any one person. He felt overwhelmed by the new set of circumstances that now laid before him. Instead of replying he let out a grunt and turned to ascend the ladder to the cockpit. He needed to think. He needed to be alone for a while. This new person had changed too much. 

—-♡—-

It had been a full day aboard the Mandalorain’s ship and he had not spoken another word towards you. If anything he had become hostile towards you after your conversation. Cara Dune it turns out was a rebel trooper during the war and hated the Empire more than anyone you had ever met, but she was much more fascinated by you. 

“I know, I know you told me. But can you please explain it again? I’m trying to understand. It doesn’t have to do with your emotions?” She posed the question for what felt like the hundredth time today. And now because the Mandalorian was within earshot you wanted to appear as friendly and helpful as possible, so you decided to answer honestly. 

“Sort of, yes. It has to do with each individual's response to that particular problem. My people always believed that every situation, every interaction, every moment was simply a problem to be solved. Everything you do you must use logic to solve it. So your eyes are a response to that in away. It’s a signal, I guess you might call it.” You tried your best to explain it, although it sounded weird referring to your kind as your people as you had never once met another since leaving your homeworld.

“And so all xulkits are different? The meaning behind the color changes?” She continued.

“Yes, that’s right. Although, there are a lot of similarities I have heard. For instinct, I know what you call purple is often related to -- how should I put it?” You pause for a moment, you truly hated talking about this, it felt like giving away the most vulnerable part of yourself. “I guess you could call it ‘love’.”

“That would have certainly helped me in the cantina a couple of times, aye Mando?” Cara was smiling widely as she looked at you. You weren’t wearing your glasses. Though you desperately wanted to put them on. You were trying to show that you could be trusted and that you had nothing to hide, though this was a lie. Your eyes would surely give it away at some point. 

The Mandalorian had turned and was looking straight at you after Cara’s comment. It felt like he was trying to see into you, to really understand what you were saying. You knew that no matter how much of a front you were putting on, you always had a tell. He turned back in his chair and you continued to stare at the floor. 

You hadn’t been allowed into the cockpit until just about an hour ago when Cara had invited you because she had more questions to ask. It seemed as though the Mandalorian had been keeping his distance, and that of the child, away from you on this very small ship. You felt as if you had done something wrong. Even though you had saved his and the child’s life. Had you revealed too much? Did he hate you because you possessed the same powers as the child? Was he afraid of you? Despite all these thoughts gnawing at you, you also couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was the plan. You had just escaped from an old Imperial prison. The news would likely spread quickly through the outer rim. And since a Mandalorian, yourself and the small green child had trouble blending in- given the rarity of your kids- you couldn’t help but wonder what would happen next. 

“I’m sorry to be a bother,” You start unsure of how to finish but you continue anyway. “But what exactly are we going to do now? I mean, we can’t exactly stroll down the street? I think people might take notice.” 

Cara laughed. “Yeah, you are new to this bit. Don’t worry. Mando here has always got a plan don’t you Mando?” 

The Mandalorian continued his stoic stare into the void of space and didn’t answer. You were hoping that things between you and Mando would ease up a little to help make life less miserable while on the ship. 

—-♡—-

It turns out that things did not, in fact, ease up. Mando continued to ignore you completely. Any attempt at conversation or any questions in his direction was ignored. Sometimes when you entered the room he would just stand and exit, always taking the child with him, no matter how much the child squealed and cried in your direction. 

However, the plan it turns out was simple. 

The following day after you asked your question, Cara was dropped off on Nevarro. She was planning on gathering information and reporting back to the Mandalorian as soon as she could while working within the bounty hunter's guild. It also turns out that they had gained lots of friends on their journey together, friends who believed in keeping the child safe and protected. 

Cara insisted that you stay with Mando.

“He’ll lighten up. He always does. Just give it some time.” Cara smiled at you before departing from the ship. 

“Are you sure I can’t come with you? I promise I can be helpful.” You were practically begging her. 

“I think you are going to be a lot more useful to the child here. With him.” Cara jerked her head in his direction. You knew he was eavesdropping as he pretended to load a few crates of supplies that had been brought into the docking bay by another one of Mando’s friends. “You promised to help. So help.” She took your shoulder one last time and nodded before turning to say her goodbyes to Mando. 

That had been two weeks ago. And in those two weeks, you had barely spoken a word to another soul. You had said more to yourself as you tried to pass the time in space than to The Mandalorian. And you were starting to think the prison cell was cozier than this, which was by far the craziest thought you’d ever had. In that time you had spent nearly all of it alone on the ship. But recently Mando seemed to become more relaxed with you around the kid. And slowly you had found time to enjoy playing with the small creature. He loved to hide in strange places around the ship and you enjoyed trying to find him, even when his hiding spot was obvious as one of his ears would stick out a little too far. 

The ship had landed four times during these weeks. To stock and refuel and get the needed supplies to survive for an extended amount of time in space. The only thing the Mandalorian ever said was that you were never to leave the ship. No one could see you were aboard, so you needed to stay put and out of anyone's eye. Once you had ventured up into the cockpit out of pure curiosity and boredom. It turned out the Mandalorian had thought of this as he had covered the windows with a makeshift covering from some fabric. This struck you as odd but thought it was because he was overly paranoid about everything.

It was sometime during the second week, you were in the cabin below playing a game of hide and seek with the child. You heard the familiar click of boots landing from the cockpit above. You thought nothing of it, it’s not like he was going to acknowledge you anyways. 

“We are going to be landing in a few minutes.”

You were surprised to hear his voice. You stood up from your awkward position of looking under the crate, you now realize he must think that it was really strange to see you crawling around on all fours like that. 

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave. I’ll stay right here.” You motioned around the cabin. 

“Actually,” Mando paused unsure of what to say. “I think enough time has passed that we can spend a little time on this planet.” 

Your eyes widen in surprise. “You mean like to stay? For more than a few hours?” 

“Yes.” 

You broke into a huge smile. “Did you hear the little one?! We get to stay! We get to see the outside!” You saw him peak out of his favorite spot on top of one of the cabinets. You rushed over to him and couldn’t contain your excitement any longer letting out a little squeal. The child sensing your excitement did your usual ritual of jumping off the cabinet into your arms. Right as he was about to jump you heard an exasperated Mando yell in frustration. But you caught the creature and spun him around hugging him tightly unable to contain your joy. 

“You shouldn’t let him do that.” Mando sounded upset. 

“Why?” You asked as innocently as you could.

“He could hurt himself.” He stated it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and quickly took the child out of your arms even as he protested.

“When are you going to learn Mandalorian, the only way to learn to control the Force is by actually using it.” You smile at him.

“What do you mean? You caught him.” 

“How do you think he got up there, my dear friend?” You brush past the Mandalorian to gather your rather small stash of stuff. 

You had been sleeping in a small makeshift cot that you had fastened out of old cloaks and some old sleeping bags you had found around the rather small cabin. You hadn’t really brought much with you when you had left the prison. Just a change of clothes, your vibroblade, your glasses, and a few things you had collected while on the run. Considering the last place you slept, this was quite comfortable, even if it wasn’t a luxury situation. You had seen where Mando’s sleeping quarters were, but had yet to see him use it. You had assumed that he slept much less than you and that was that. You hadn’t really considered that maybe he hadn’t been sleeping because of you.

He didn’t answer and instead said, “Get ready to land,” and took the child and climbed the ladder to pilot the ship to somewhere you hoped was sunny. 

—-♡—-

It was beautiful. The most beautiful thing you had ever seen. You couldn’t believe your eyes. Everywhere you looked was more green and more lust. There were tiny pink, yellow, and purple flowers littering the surface in front of the ship. As you looked out on the wide-field there were more flowers than you'd seen in your entire lifetime. Without a second thought, you threw down your bag and ran towards the green grass and flowers. As soon as you reached the edge you flopped down and started to roll around. You couldn’t believe how soft everything felt against your skin.

You stood and turned towards the Mandalorian. His head was tilted slightly as he looked you up and down. The child was giggling excitedly in his arms as he also watched you. Without another thought, you threw off your shoes and started to run. You don’t know why but you had to run. You needed to feel the breeze in your hair, the grass on your feet, the rush in your lungs. You had forgotten what it was like to be free. You need to feel everything, taste everything right now. You aren’t sure how long you ran or what possessed you to stop. But finally, when you couldn't make your legs go any further you collapsed with your legs and arms spread wide on the ground. You just stared at the beautiful blue sky and the pinkish clouds that littered it. You just sat there and tried to feel every tiny thing you could feel from your feet on the grass to the sunlight on your nose. You never wanted to go back to anything other than this. You were so lost in your bliss that you didn’t hear a pair of boots approaching. 

“I thought for a moment that was last I would see of you.” The deep voice startled you and you sat up straight. Mando was standing above you blocking the sun. 

“I thought for a moment it might be too.” You smiled at him lazily. You turn and just closed your eyes to try and forget that he was there with you. You wanted to focus on being here in this beautiful place. You feel two small hands grabbing at your side and you open your eyes to see the child looking at you with a worried expression. He is reaching for your head. You smile and pick him up. 

“Isn’t it beautiful here, little one?” The child continues reaching for your forehead. You smile and dip your head forward and place your head in his hands. This had become somewhat of a daily ritual for the two of you. 

But this time was different. This time when his tiny hands touched your forehead you felt a jolt in The Force around you. Suddenly there were flashes, pictures, images that rushed before your eyes. Horrible things like something out of a nightmare. Dead bodies littered the ground in front of you. Everywhere you looked there were more bodies and blood rushed around your bare feet. Loud blaster fire filled your ears on top of the screams and cries as you heard children pleading for help.

Startled and afraid you let out a yelp and dropped the child into your lap. For a moment you can tell that he saw what was just in your mind too. 

“What was that about?” Mando demanded. Leaning down and picking up the child who seemed very subdued, with big tired eyes. 

“I-,” You hesitated, unsure of what it is that you just experienced, and unsure if you should tell that Mandalorian. “I don’t know.”

“I can see your eyes, Y/N.” The Mandalorian stated plainly. 

“I know.” You say defensively. You hated not wearing your glasses around him. You hated being this vulnerable “I really don’t know. That’s the truth.” You look at the child asleep in his arms. You stand up, the joy you had felt just moments earlier was suddenly gone. 

“He is tired after he uses it,” Mando states this matter a factly. 

“The Force, you mean.” You were still trying to get Mando to say the word Force. For some reason or another, he seemed resistant. 

“Yes.”

“Hmmm.” You think for a moment. “He’s trying to tell us something. Tell me something. But I- I really don’t know. I’m sorry.” For the first time, you felt good about yourself because that was the whole truth. Mando seemed satisfied enough with this answer. He turned and started to walk back, in what you assumed was the direction of the ship. You are glad he came to find you. If he hadn't you aren’t sure you would’ve been able to find your way back. You followed silently behind him, thinking of what you had seen but trying to still take in the scenery. You wanted to forget what the child had shown you. The horror that had filled your mind. With your mind racing, you needed to distract yourself.

“Can you see color? Through the helmet I mean?” You have no idea what possessed you to ask such a ridiculous question. You blamed it on how happy the planet had made you feel. You wanted to share that feeling with another. You wanted to know if he was as awestruck as you.

“Yes.” Another one-word reply from the Mando, but for now that was enough for you. You walked in silence for another moment. When he spoke again it caught you completely off guard. “I knew this planet had lots of colors. I knew you would like that.” 

You stopped walking for a minute and stared at the back of his helmet. You were completely dumbfounded by what he had just said. Had he just admitted he had chosen this planet because he knew you would enjoy its scenery? How did the Mandalorian know you loved color? Did he assume you loved flowers as well? These thoughts poured through you as he continued forward. He saw that you weren’t following him and stopped, turning to look at your completely dumbstruck face. 

“I remembered your people see colors differently. I thought you would enjoy a place with lots.... after prison.” His voice faltered at the end as if he didn’t want to remember. 

“Mandalorian, I-well-I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything. We needed a place to stay.” 

“No, please let me say thank you.” You walked forward and smiled at him and looked around at all the stunning colors realizing that it was all just for you. “Thank you.” You stepped around him and leaned down and picked a beautiful multi-colored flower. It was bright and loud and the perfect fit for the dullness of the Mando’s armor. You turned and placed so it was resting on his armor chest plate. “Perfect!” You exclaimed, stepping back and examining the new flower on The Mandalorian. 

You take a deep breath and look around at the planet again feeling that joyful feeling returning. “I wish you could see what I see right now.” Mando steps up next to you and looks around trying his best to soak in as much of the planet as possible to appease you. 

“Describe it to me.”

—-♡—-

It took some convincing, but Mando finally agreed that you could sleep outside under the stars and moons. But you had to promise to stay close to the ship at all times during the night. You were overjoyed by the possibility of being outside after all this time that you would have agreed to anything. Without you asking, Mando built a small fire close to the ramp of the ship. He also brought out your makeshift cot, along with what looked like a sleeping sack and set it down close to the fire. 

“Take this just in case.” Mando handed you a small communicator. “I’ll keep mine next to me in case something happens.”

“You know Mandalorian, if I didn’t know better I would say you’re worried about me.” You looked up at him, knowing better than to hope for a reply. You took the communicator and then turned to make your bed on the ground near the ship but far enough away so you would be able to see the entire night sky without anything obstructing your view. Mando remained silent as he stroked the fire. The child was still asleep, inside his makeshift crib, not having woken from his earlier trick.

After a few moments of trying to get comfortable, you finally settled down and stared at the vast untouched night sky. You sighed, and for the first time in a long time, it was because you were completely content. 

“If you need anything-” Mando started.

“I know, I know,” you said waving him off and lifting your hand to show you still had the communicator. He nodded once in your direction then took the crib up the ramp, where you assumed he would sleep. 

What you didn’t know was that the Mandalorian didn’t plan on sleeping. Not while there was any threat to your safety. He had been very reluctant when you first asked about sleeping outside the ship. He knew he couldn’t stop you if you decided that was what you wanted to do. So he agreed as long as you stayed close. The sheer joy on your face was enough to make this decision worth it for him. He knew that he could go a night without sleeping in order to help restore some amount of joy into your eyes. He had never seen something as beautiful as today when you had seen the planet for the first time. He felt a need to continue to make sure that he could provide whatever possible to make that happen.

He had been silently observing you over the past two weeks. He had found that he had become quite fond of you, even if he had no way of expressing this. He loved the way that you muttered to yourself. Or the way you liked to hum to yourself as you did menial things around the ship. He was impressed with how respectful you had been towards him and the child. He was unused to traveling with others on his ship, especially some with such striking features as you. So it had been difficult for him to find ways to try and talk to you. He wasn’t used to making small talk or talking to others about themselves. And he especially was not used to talking about himself to anyone. He has been surprised at how few questions you had asked. And never once had you mentioned the helmet, you hadn’t asked about it or even seem to mind it. 

He had watched over the course of the two weeks together as the child had been very attached to you. As much as the Mandalorian cared for the child, he never found time to just play with the kid. And yet somehow watching you interact with him had made him almost jealous at the ease of which you could just relax and enjoy yourself as you played. He wasn’t sure if you had noticed him watching you as you crawled around the ship pretending not to know where the child was hiding as he squealed in delight. Or as you rolled a tiny ball between the two of you. Or as you spoke to the child in a soothing voice before bed. 

He knew he hadn’t shown you very much attention, or shown that he cared that you were there to help him. But he was trying to be better. He had hoped that a stop on an isolated planet known for its greenery would be helpful in breaking whatever barrier there was between you, and so far he seemed to be right. 

—-♡—-

You don’t remember when you drifted off. You gazed at the stars for as long as you could, thinking about your homeworld, your family, all the masters you had served, the child, and eventually, your thoughts landed on The Mandalorian. Sooner or later you drifted off into a restless sleep. At first, your dreams were all over the place, nothing you would remember in the morning. 

Then you were in a dream, that felt entirely real. Like it was happening. Like you were there.

You were standing in a grassy field looking at a large structure that stood in ruins. The earth had reclaimed most of it but bits and pieces could still be made out. You walked towards it needing to know what it was and why it was in ruins. You started to hear voices, voices whispering as if they were next to you and yet you felt as if they were as distant as the stars. As you approached the structure you reached to touch it and suddenly your dream shifted as if you had been transported. 

You were on your knees in front of an enormous marble staircase leading to a vast, seemingly endless building. You looked up and saw this huge glorious building. At the top of the staircase with golden statues holding swords pointing towards the entrance as they stood proudly outside. As you made your way up the staircase and approached the courtyard it was littered with golden statues and fountains. There was not a single soul in this vast space and it made you feel uneasy. Yet you could hear a chorus of voices swell around you as you followed them inside the building. Inside seemed bigger than you could’ve ever imagined. You saw before you massive pillars of marble and gold that seemed to reach the very stars. This hallway stood above the rest of the building and as you looked to either side you saw more golden statues and below them figures cloaked, shrouded in darkness, gathering together and making their way out towards more gigantic staircases leading them somewhere beyond. You knew this place. You had been here before. 

You walked down the great marble hallway, you were searching for something. Someone. You tried to use your voice but when you tried to speak no words could be formed. You started to run down the hallway. But there was no end. You looked back and you could see no beginning. You wanted to cry out for help but your voice was of no use. The voices were all around you now. Whispering. It was as if they were trying to lead you somewhere. You turned back to try and find some way to escape. You needed to escape. There was something wrong here. Something very wrong. You weren’t supposed to be here.

As you turned to try and run, you noticed to your side there stood a singular figure, dark and cloak. They started to approach you. You couldn’t see their face. You tried to run away. You wanted to run away. But your legs were frozen. You tried to turn but the floor beneath you disappeared and you fell backward. You looked up towards the figure as it leaned over you. It was cold. Intimidating. It reached out its hand.

“You have found your way back to us, Y/N.” 

You tried to retreat, to crawl away but you couldn’t. Something was keeping you glued to this spot. 

“The time for hiding has ended. Now rise.” 

In one swift motion, the figure grabbed your arm and lifted you out of the dream. 

You woke with a scream escaping your lips. You could feel the energy around you moving, shifting. You couldn’t control it. You felt as if you were floating in the air. Finally, you felt planted firmly on the ground. And your eyes shot open and you scrambled to your feet right into the arms of the Mandalorian. 

“Y/N!” He shook you as you tried to scramble away unsure of what was happening. The dream. It had felt so real. It was real. He shook you again trying to get your attention. “Y/N! It’s me!” 

You blinked twice up at the visor. And noticed the absence of the rest of his beskar armor. Instead, he wore a layer of thick clothing that still covered him head to toe. You were still trying to understand the dream. How had you managed to end up back on this planet? Had you ever really left? It was then that you noticed you were quite a distance from where you had fallen asleep. The things around the campfire looked disheveled. Like someone had thrown them every which way in an attempt to ransack the place. 

“What happened?” Mando demanded. He seemed annoyed with you. “Are you okay?”

“I-” you didn’t know where to begin. You couldn’t make sense of what you had seen. And you knew better than to blurt it out to Mando, he might think you’re crazy. “It was just a bad dream,” you finally managed to stammer back. It wasn’t a lie and you didn’t know if he could see your eyes. 

“What happened?” He pointed to the disheveled camp. 

“It was a bad dream. I was- well… I was back in the prison. It was unpleasant. I must’ve been sleepwalking and-” you pointed to the campfire and the overturned crate and the items scattered every which way. Now that was a lie. And not even a good one. No one that was sleepwalking could’ve done this. 

For whatever reason Mando decided not to push this. He nodded and released your arms. You took several deep breaths trying to regain control.

“I can stay out here.” It was more a statement than a request but for the first time, you were glad to have his company. 

“Yes, alright.” You didn’t argue. You just turned and walked over to gather your things. Your mind was racing. You were afraid that you might never be able to sleep again. Afraid that you would again be transported. Mando walked back up into the ship while you tried to rearrange what you could in the darkness for the fire had simmered down long ago. It’s true that you could see better than most creatures in the dark, but you too had your limitations. 

As you finally got your sleeping cot rearranged, Mando descended the ship with the crib and a few other things in tow. 

“Is he okay?” You asked. “Is he still asleep?”

“Yes.” 

“Can I see him?”

Mando pressed a few buttons on his wrist and the crib opened and revealed the sleeping creature. He was sound asleep looking content and worry-free in the moonlight. Your heart felt lighter at that thought. You reached and stroked his big ear affectionately before looking back to Mando. 

“I’m sorry I disturbed you. I guess freedom doesn’t mean you're really free.” You looked to the Mandalorian who tilted his visor in your direction. 

“No. I guess not.” You may have imagined it but you thought you saw Mando raise his hand as if to touch your check. You didn’t realize it in all the confusion but you had been crying. But his hand never reached your check so you turned and sat down on the edge of your cot. Not quite ready to go to sleep, willing yourself to say something more to the man beside you. You stared at the stars as you thought of him and what he must think of you. 

“Is it difficult? Being one of the last of your kind?” You had thought of asking him this many times but always chickened out. It was something that at least you and him shared. 

“Yes,” he replied after a moment or two. “There are still clans scattered throughout the galaxy. It is impossible to know the true number of Mandalorians left.” You looked at him. It felt like that was the most he had ever said to you. “It will not be comforting to hear, but I have seen many Mandalorians but you are the first xulkit I’ve ever met.” 

You snotted at his comment. “You are correct Mandalorian. That is not a comfort.” You let out a long slow breath. “I think I have come to accept that I may never meet another of my kind in this lifetime. Maybe the next, however.”

There was a long moment of silence. You could feel the pull of sleep. You didn’t want to answer it. You never wanted to sleep again. But you knew you must. You crawled into your sleeping sack and turned to face Mando who was sitting up against a log. The crib between the two of you. You let your eyes close, feeling a strange comfort knowing Mando was only a few feet away. 

“Do you think he is the last of his kind?” you mused more to yourself.

“I hope, for his sake, no.” 

“Quite a team we are, huh? All lost souls searching for their family again.” You didn’t wait for a reply and turned the other way feeling sleep overtake you as you took one long deep breath. Mando sat and watched you and nothing else, wondering what it was that you weren’t telling him. And if he should be worried about what trouble you may get him and the kid into.


	3. iii - the rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorian takes you along on a day trip. Things do not go according to plan when he fails to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of KOTOR in this chapter, because why the hell not.

The next morning you awoke to the sound of something cooking. You slowly blinked your eyes open. A rush ran through you as you remembered the night before. You sat for a moment and remembered how vivid the dream had felt. How real it was. But as you blinked in the daylight you started to doubt yourself. It couldn’t have been real. A foggy memory played at the corner of your mind, something that was told to you long ago. You closed your eyes as you tried to remember. 

‘The darkness changes many thoughts, but you must not let that fool you, child.’

Your eyes snapped open. You heard her voice. A woman’s voice. As if she had been sitting next to you. But that was impossible, you were here now. As if on cue, you felt a small hand touch the back of your head. You hear a scurry of metallic feet and a tiny squeak of disappointment. 

“She’s asleep.” You heard Mando whisper as you blinked in the breaking dawn light. You turn quickly and grab the Mandalorian’s leg. His reflexes are quick as he jumps, startled by your movement, and turns as if ready to fight. 

“Sorry! No, I'm awake. He can stay.” You say quickly as Mando relaxes his posture upon seeing that it was only you. He doesn’t say a word as he bends down and sets the kid next to you. The child quickly closes the distance and waddle-runs over and hugs the entire side of your head with the tiniest cry of glee. You giggle. You sit up and take the child into your lap. 

As you look into those huge eyes you feel the same energy that you did the night before. It is stronger than anything you’ve felt before. You close your eyes. And you try your best to concentrate. To feel everything around you. 

You feel the life within the ground. You feel the life force that you hold in your arms. You feel the slow growth of the flowers, the grass, and the trees around you. You can feel the change and the shifting in the dirt as it brings forth life. And you can feel the earth shifting into decay as it reclaims old things.

You can feel the Force. 

You open your eyes and see that the child is gazing back at you with his tiny head tilted to one side, looking almost concerned. It feels like you….understand. He knows how you are feeling because he, like you, can feel everything around him.

“You might teach me more than I teach you.” You whisper as you stand up with him in your arms. “Let’s keep that between us for now. Okay?” You playfully pitch his tiny nose and he lets out a small coo, which you have to take as a yes. 

You and the child walked over to where the Mandalorian appeared to be cooking. You weren’t sure what it was and you weren’t sure if it was edible by looking at it. Without a word, Mando reached down and handed you a plate of food. 

“Am I allowed to ask what it is?” You said as you continued to question the food. It looked worse on the plate and it had an interesting smell that made your stomach churn.

“Will that change anything?” He didn’t look at you as he put another small plate in front of the child. As predicted, the child didn’t hesitate and almost jumped on top of the small pile of food as he devoured his meal. 

“I suppose not.” You said as you grab a tiny bite and stick in your mouth. You're surprised to find it doesn’t taste nearly as bad you had imagined. “Wait! How are you going to eat? With the -” You do a circular motion around your face signaling his helmet.

“I already ate.” He replied coolly, as he helped the child with the last few pieces of his meal. 

“Oh,” is all you can muster. You realize you are actually quite hungry. You shouldn’t complain, but the diet on the ship wasn’t particularly good. It left a lot to be desired. Not a lot of hot meals were made in space. But it was definitely a step up from prison food. After your second bite, you start to stuff your mouth with what Mando had given you, no longer caring what it was and how he got it. 

“Slow down.” Mando commanded. “There’s plenty more.” If you could’ve guessed you would have thought there was a hint of a smile in his voice. He was shoveling a bit more on the child’s plate who eagerly began to gobble it up at the same dizzying pace as you. 

“Sorry, I just haven’t eaten a meal like this in a while. Sorry.” You looked at the ground trying to chew your food more slowly.

There was a long pause. Then the Mandalorian turned and looked directly at you. 

“You don’t need to say sorry for everything. Especially for things that are not your fault.” 

You were surprised at the softness of his voice and the softness of his words. You sat for a minute unsure of what to say, wanting to apologize for apologizing. Instead, you just stared at the ground and tried to eat as slowly as you could will yourself. Without a word, Mando shoveled more onto your plate. You thanked him. After a few more minutes of a silent breakfast, Mando stood. 

“We need more supplies. There is a population density about half a day's walk from here. Are you up for a short trip?” 

“You mean, we get to see more of this planet?” You looked at him with wide eyes. 

“Yes,” he answered. He hesitated before answering, “That is unless you would like to stay with the ship.”

“Not a chance.” 

—-♡—-

It turns out that it was in fact, quite a trek through the woods. The Mandalorian packed a small bag for himself and the child and fitted his jetpack, which he said was only in case of emergencies. You had brought along the water from a nearby stream in a couple of canteens, deciding to pack as much as you could carry in case the child needed a lot. You had strapped your vibroblade to your thigh and just like that the three of you had set off in the direction he pointed. You both had taken turns carrying the child. It would seem that he is not the small green bean he appeared to be because after a few hours of trekking through the woods your arms had gone numb.

The woods were not as dense as they had appeared at first glance. It was mostly full of giant pine trees that swayed lightly in the breeze as pine cones littered the ground around you. Once or twice throughout the afternoon a pine cone fell and hit Mando on top of the helmet. The child let out a squeal of pure joy after it hit and wouldn’t stop giggling for several minutes afterward. And on the third time, you had a strange suspicion that the pine cones weren’t falling completely on their own. A couple of times you asked Mando to stop so that you could look at something along the way. Taking your time to enjoy the fresh air. You picked flowers along the way, handing them to both Mando and the child, weaving them into a small bracelet for the child to wear. Which within a few moments he had devoured while you weren’t looking. 

It was early afternoon when you reached the edge of the forest and the trees began to thin. Leading out into tall, dense grassland that stood up to your shoulders. Suddenly, the Mandalorian held out his arm for you to stop. Just a few meters in front of you there was a steep cliff that dropped off into a valley. At the bottom sat a medium-sized village. You could see the buildings and small streets filled with people. At the opposite end of the valley, you saw that it opened up into a large ocean. You could see further out on the water an even larger city filled with tall buildings and bustling with life. As you looked closer you could see a bridge that led from the small town here on land out into the city on the water. Mando got his binocs out and looked through them towards the small town below. 

“It’s an enclave. It is full of mercs. It appears that this is Hutt territory.” 

“What? The Hutts? Here?”

“Yes.” He handed you his binocs. You took them and looked through them down at the people below. They looked quite normal to you. “You see out there on the water. That used to be the main base of the Kolto Keepers when they worked for the Hutt cartel. After the war, The New Republic has tried to maintain a steady hold on the kolto trade. With little success.” He added. 

“There kolto on this planet?” You looked at him as you handed his binocs back and he took it and surveyed down below again. 

“It’s highly unlikely. It is more likely a front for spice running now.” 

“And you want us to just walk down there, and hope we don’t get noticed?” You were starting to think it might have been a better idea to stay on with the ship.

“No.” He stopped looking through his binocs and looked at you and the child. “I’ll go down there. There is a better chance no one will question a Mandalorian in a town full of mercs. You stay here. Stay hidden until I get back. Here,” he handed you the communicator. “If anything goes wrong, or if you see anyone, I mean anyone, but me, I want you to contact me. Then I want you to run as far away as you can.”

“Okay, but how will you find me again?” 

He reached into his belt and grabbed a tracking beacon. “Keep this with you. I will be able to find you as long as you have it.” 

He placed it in your palm. And you looked up at him curiously. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I might be a little less noticeable if I wear my glasses. I can maybe - uh - blend in a bit better than you.” You motion up and down at his set of beskar armor. 

He looks down at you as if considering this for a moment. “No, that poses too many risks. I will go.”

You decided that it isn’t worth the fight and give him an understanding nod. He turns to leave and glances back at you one last time. 

“If you see anyone besides me, I want you to run. Fast.”

“You got it, Mandalorian.” You give him a cheerful grin as you lean down and pick up the child. “We’ll be waiting right here. But hurry, please.” 

He gives you one last look and turns to descend down the cliff face. You are a little jealous that he can use a jetpack. If it had been you it would have taken another hour to go around the cliff face to a less steep part of the mountain you were on. You realize now that he could have used his jetpack this entire time to make the travel faster if you hadn’t tagged along. But he had walked... with you… was it because you had wanted to come along? The strange thought crosses your mind that he may have walked most of the morning with you just so you could see more of the planet. But that seemed unlikely as this wasn’t a gesture that seemed in Mando’s character. Or at least you didn’t think so. 

You turn to look down at the child who is worriedly looking in Mando’s direction as he glides off. “Oh, don’t worry my little friend. He will be back for us in no time at all. Now, maybe we should practice. So we can surprise him when he gets back!”

—-♡—-

You were officially starting to worry. The sun was starting to set over the ocean horizon. There had not been a word from Mando in hours. He had told you that he had arrived in the town unnoticed and that it would only be an hour or two. But it had been much, much longer and you were starting to let the panic settle in. For the first little bit, you had tried to pass the time by sitting across from the child and trying to pass a rock between the two of you using only the Force. It had taken a lot of energy as you successfully lifted the rock several times before the child realized what you were trying to get him to do. Instead of passing the rock back to you as intended, he raised his tiny hand and lifted every rock around in the area above his head. When you realized he was about to throw dozens of tiny stones in your direction you screamed at him to stop. After that, you decided it might be a better idea to use something that would be potentially less lethal. So you practiced with blades of grass for over an hour. This was when the worrying really began to set in.

Now that the sun was setting you were in full panic mode. Several times you had thought about contacting Mando on the communicator, but every time you reached to do so you felt this sharp feeling in your stomach not to do so. And so you hadn’t. Now as you looked down at the town below, you decided you needed to do something. It was going to be dark soon and you couldn’t stay out here all night with the child. It was far too dangerous, you didn't know what could be in the woods. Or who could be out there. 

You picked up the child and wrapped him tightly in the blanket Mando had brought. You thought that the best course of action was to head in the direction of the ship and hope that Mando contacted you soon. You knew that if you went into town with the child you didn’t stand a chance against a merch in a one on one fight. Unless you could somehow tap into this power, or somehow use the child to your advantage. You hesitated for a moment, you couldn’t decide if what was the right choice. 

That’s when you heard it. A loud snap in the distance. It was an unnatural snap. You quickly dodged behind a tree. You couldn’t see anything out there in the distance, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t. There were plenty of places to hide. You leaned against the tree with the child in your arms and closed your eyes. You tried to sense it. To feel it. It took you a moment. There was someone out there. You could feel it. You kept your eyes closed, there was more than one person out there. You kept searching. You felt as if you were surrounded. There were many people in these woods and they were closing in around you. 

You opened your eyes. You needed a plan. You looked at the child who was now asleep in your arms. You knew you needed to protect him. You knelt down on the ground as quietly as you could so you can swing the backpack around and place it on your chest so that it faces forward. You slowly place the child inside trying your best not to wake him, making sure he is as comfortable as possible. Now with your hands free you grab the vibroblade from your thigh and close your eyes again. They were getting closer. You could sense that there were….four maybe five of them. They had you surrounded. How could they have known where you were in the darkness? You remembered the tracking fob, the one Mando had given you. You slowly pull it out of your pocket. You lean down and place it inside the tree trunk. 

Then you do something you thought impossible. You take a deep breath and close your eyes. You use all your strength and the energy you can feel flowing around you to jump high up on one of the branches of the enormous tree above you. From there you start to climb up. As high as you can without making a noise. 

Once you have reached a decent height, you close your eyes. “Oh maker, please let this work.” You whisper silently to yourself. You jump and using The Force as a guide you land on the next tree over on one of its thick branches. The land isn’t perfect. And there may have been too much noise, but you clammer next to the trunk of the tree and scoot around to the other side and decide to jump again to the next tree over. You needed to put distance between yourself and the people chasing you. After you land on another rather large branch in the next tree over you can hear voices below. There are more people than you thought. You close your eyes trying to sense them.

“She ditched the fob. She could be miles ahead of us by now!” You heard a voice in the distance running up towards the others. 

“You hear that Mando, your little girlfriend, and your little ugly pet abandoned you. They left you to die.” 

Your heart sunk. They had Mando. You start to curse yourself for waiting so long and for holding out hope that he would come back. If you had left earlier you might have been able to escape. Now you were surrounded by at least six other mercs down below. 

Then the thought strikes you. You remember the tales of the Jedi. The stories that the child would tell late at night after a hard day's work. The stories you always wanted to believe because of how badly you wanted to be rescued. Because you wanted to be a Jedi. You always believed you could be a Jedi. If only you knew how. You remember the stories and decide that you have no choice but to muster up the courage to follow them. You look down at the pack on your chest and see the sleeping child. You knew that if it should come to it, you would need to kill it before you let anyone take him. But the question of if you could really do such a thing loomed in the back of your mind. 

You slowly started to make your way to lower branches of the tree. As you get to the lowest part of the tree you can see a small team of mercs gathered around Mando a few meters away. You are still far enough above them in the darkness that they won’t be able to see you. Luckily for you, your eyesight is much better than most and you can see the have Mando handcuffed and on his knees. One of the mercs kicks him hard in the stomach and he doubles over. You feel an intense desire that you must help him.

“We can’t kill him. He’s only good if he’s got the assets with him. I think they made that very clear.” 

“Yeah and unless you can make a speeder bike magically appear, she's miles ahead of us by now, you absolute kriff.”

“I say we take off this helmet and see how pretty you really are?” All the other mercs back up leaving just her and Mando in the small clearing.

A young green Twi'lek walked slowly towards Mando in a menacing manner. She leaned down to his level. You knew what she was about to do and you weren’t going to let it happen. You raised your hand and tried to feel everything around you flow through your fingertips. You looked towards the tree closest to them and then closed your eyes and moved your hand as if pulling the tree towards yourself. You heard the crack of wood and saw the tree start to fall as if it were in slow motion. The group of mercs jerked their heads up. As the tree started to fall faster towards the ground they were forced to drive out of the way, unfortunately, two of them were not quick enough to make it and were crushed under the gigantic tree. The earth shook violently as the tree landed and dust and dirt flew everywhere. 

“What the hell was that?” You heard one of the male mercs scream. 

“It’s that rat of his, it’s around here. SHOOT!”

“NOOOO!” The Twi'lek screamed as she drove at the others to stop the blaster fire. “We need it ALIVE. He isn’t worth anything to us dead!” She grabbed Mando roughly by the neck and started to drag him out of the dust right below where you were balanced on the branch of the tree. So you started to ascend the tree just a little higher to avoid being seen. You needed to remain invisible just a little longer and you needed a better angle.

“Alright little girl, come out or I’ll shoot your boyfriend. I don’t care about him all I want is that kriffing rat.” She pointed the blaster straight at Mando’s head. And you almost laughed because with the helmet on the Mandalorian looked almost bored by this whole situation. 

“I’ll give you to the count of three.” 

You needed a different angle. You needed to be on the other side. You take a deep breath. You could see exactly where you needed to land. You take a couple of running steps before launching yourself in the air. To your surprise, the mercs don’t see you, and for once you feel blessed by your eyesight. It was now too dark for them to see up in even the lowest branches of the trees.

“One!” 

You turn and look down. You could see perfectly. You raise your hand and close your eyes focusing with all your might. You think you may have imagined the tiny click that followed. Satisfied, you decide to jump down to be ready to strike. 

“Two!” 

You grab your vibroblade and prepare to attack. 

“Come on little girl, don’t make me.” The Twi’lek pushed the blaster closer to Mando’s head. 

“She’s in the trees I can see her! Over there!” One of the remaining mercs points in your direction. 

“Well!” The twi’lek turns in your direction, though you know she still can’t see you and pushes Mando’s head a little harder. You see him shift and know it’s time. 

“Three.” Mando says calmly as he grabs the gun pressed against his head and knocks the Twi’lek out with one punch to the gut. He turns the blaster towards her and pulls the trigger. He turns his attention to the other mercs who are caught off guard by the freed Mandalorian and he starts sending blaster fire in their direction. You take a leap down off the branches continuing to feel the energy pulsing all around as you land on top of one of the mercs, sending him to the ground as you drive the blade through his back. 

Mando is quick to fire on two of the other mercs but one starts making a charge towards Mando. He is stopped in his tracks as if someone is holding him there. You see a small hand and two green ears sticking out from the backpack. You don’t hesitate as you jump and drive the blade straight through his chest. You look around and see all the mercs are down and you see the Mandalorian stumbling towards you as he falls to the ground. 

You rush over to his side. 

“‘I’m sorry, Y/N,” he lets out a long groan of pain. “I didn’t have time to warn you.” 

“What? No, Mandalorian. Are you okay? What did they do to you?” 

You hear one of the mercs make some noise. You know that it is not safe to stay here. You had made quite a bit of noise and even dead, these six merchs were bound to draw a lot of attention. 

“I’m sorry to do this to you, my friend. But we have to move. We can’t stay here.” 

He starts to stand and let’s out another groan. You stand and catch him to support his weight. 

“The kid?” he stammers out.

“He’s fine. Even had an assist back there.” You jerk your head in the direction of the last merch. 

“The handcuffs. You?” He manages to get out. 

“Yes. Now save your energy. We need to make it back to the ship so we can get you fixed up.” You continue to support him as you start to walk in what you hope is the right direction.

“There’s a stimpack. Backpack.”

“Oh right!” You open the flap and see the child is fast asleep and between his tiny claws are two stimpacks, as if he had known they would be needed. “You have one smart son, I will give you that.” You pull out the stimpacks and hand them to Mando. He sticks his arm with one. And his leg with the other. And takes a deep breath.

“That’ll have to do for now. We need to get off this planet. The sooner. The better.” 

You didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed your arm to steady himself and began to lead you into the dark woods.

—-♡—-

It was a slow process trudging through the woods in the dark. Mando needed support for large parts of the way, you could tell that he was a lot more hurt than he was letting on. You did the best you could to guide him through the dark. You had started to worry when you touched his side and you felt a warm liquid on your palm. As he leaned against you, you could feel the hot liquid soaking through to your robes.

You tried not to let the worry get to you and instead focused on getting back to the ship in one piece. After many breaks and stops to adjust yourselves, you finally saw something shiny in the distance.

“Mandalorian, the ship I can see it. Just over there!”

He let out a low grunt and continued to walk forward, but at this point, you were half carrying him. You stumbled through the last of the trees and the Mandalorian pressed a few things on his wrist and the ramp lowered itself. You helped him stagger up. Once inside he collapsed on the floor. You scrambled to take the pack off from your chest and set it down gently making sure that the child was still sleeping easily. 

When you turned back you could see that Mando was reaching for something. In the light of the ship, you realized that his injuries were a lot more serious than you thought. You could see bloodstains all up his left side and patching of dried blood on his biceps and around his ankles. You hurried over. 

“What do you need me to do?” 

“Up there is a medkit. Hand it to me.” 

You saw the shelf he was pointing at and reached up and grabbed it. You knelt next to him as he tried to address the wound on his side without help. 

“I hate to sound like a pessimist here, but this doesn’t look good. It actually looks really bad.”

You swear Mando froze for a second to give you a look of utter disbelief before he started to try and stand up on his elbows but winced in pain and collapsed on the floor. “Thank you, Y/N.” It made your heart lift a little that at least he could still be sarcastic. 

“You are welcome. Mandalorian, I think I am going to have to help you. And to help you I need to take the armor off.”

He only nodded at this. So you reached and started to unclip his chest plate and move it over his head quickly while trying to minimize movement. Once removed you could see the blood-soaked shirt underneath and the gash that was causing the problem. It was long and deep. Starting at the top of his ribcage and running down nearly to his hip. You gulped.

“Ah, I seem to have found the problem. You’re bleeding!” You say it to try and lighten the mood and you are sure you hear a soft chuckle under the helmet. “I’m going to have to rip this nice shirt you have on here to get to it.” Without waiting for an answer you use your hands to rip the shirt along the wound. You see blood ooze out of the wound and onto his dark skin. You reach into the medical bag and see the bacta spray. You are not sure if that will be enough for this deep of a cut so you decide to try and stop some of the bleedings first. “This may surprise you, Mandalorian, but during my time in servitude, I helped many others with wounds far worse than this. You are in good hands, sir.”

He didn’t reply but you knew he was watching as you started to cauterize the wound. You worked slowly and deliberately and made sure that the bleeding had mostly stopped. As you worked you could see all along Mando’s side and you could tell that this was hardly the first scar he would carry. His skin was soft under your touch as you started to clean the drying blood off. You could hear Mando's breaths getting shallower and so you applied the bacta spray hoping it would work to fix the rest of the wound. He had lost a lot of blood on your way back and was in no doubt in need of rest. You looked over the rest of his wounds and found that none of them required your immediate attention. You checked to make sure the wound dressing looked good and clean but decided not to wake him. 

You went to clean your hands of blood at the bottom of the ramp with one of your canteens. You closed your eyes and let out a deep breath. You were alive for another day. And that was good. You tried to close your eyes and feel what you had felt early that day. To feel the way The Force flowed through you, around you and threw everything near…. and far. Suddenly you had a strange feeling. Something was coming. No. Someone was coming.

You leaped up. You saw all of your things scattered in piles where you had slept the night before. You ran back inside the ship. You knelt next to Mando and tried to gently shake him awake.

“Mandalorian, I’m so sorry to wake you, dear friend, but we have company coming. We must depart at once.” 

He grabbed your wrist, startled by your sudden appearance. 

“Are you sure?” He slurred out the words and you knew he was not well. 

“Positive. I’m going to grab our things. Can you get up to the cockpit?

To answer the question he grabbed your shoulder and started to pull himself up. You helped him as much as you could leading him to the ladder and he started to climb as quickly as he could. He pointed to the ramp and without another word you turned to go grab your things. 

You ran out and started to gather as much as you could, as quickly as possible. You make two complete trips and are on your third before when you hear the first of the blaster fire. Without a second thought, you grab the closest thing and run back up the ramp. You turn around and you see a lot more blaster fire coming out of the trees now. You look back at the campsite and see your little brown bag. You don’t think, you just extend your hand and feel the same energy flow to the tips of your fingers as the bag flies across the small gap into your hand. You are surprised at the ease with which this comes to you.

You hit the button and the ramp starts to close. You look over and decide to grab the child who is still asleep in the small backpack and clammer up the ladder. You hear the engines roar to life and you scramble up as the ship begins to rock back and forth. You approach Mando and sit in the co-pilot's chair. He pulls the lever back and you feel the entire ship begin to retreat from the atmosphere of the planet as you enter hyperspace once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just want to say I love writing baby Yoda more than anything in the world. He is my favorite character. So I have a lot of stuff lined up that is gonna just melt your hearts. And when I said this was a slow burn, I meant slooooooooowwwwwwwwwww burrnnnnnnn, we're talking 100k slow. I have through chapter 10 outlined!!!!!!!!! And through 6 written! IM SO PUMPED! So be prepared. Love to hear what you think so far!


	4. iv - the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorian is injured and needs time to recover. It is becoming more difficult for you to conceal the truth of what you might know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy may the fourth everyone :) this chapter is here to fulfill all your fluff needs.

“Mandalorian, you need to rest. You can’t keep going like this.”

It had been just a little over an hour since you had left the planet behind and the Mandalorian hadn’t taken a break. 

“You lost a lot of blood back there. You need to rest.” You tug on his arm gently trying to lead him to his cabin. “I can watch the ship for a short time.”

“Thank you, Y/N but we don’t have a short time. We are dangerously short on fuel and very low on supplies.” 

You look around the cabin at the small piles of stuff you had gathered realizing now how valueless it all was and your heart sinks. “Well, regardless you are no good to me dead, Mandalorian. And I don’t want you dropping dead on my watch.”

He turned around and faced you grabbing you with both hands on your shoulders. “Thanks to you I am going to be fine, Y/N. But for now, we need a plan.” 

“Surely there is somewhere nearby we can land. There has to be.” You say exasperated. You had not just discovered this power inside of yourself to die floating in space. 

“We are on the Outer Rim, our options will be very limited.” 

“Well, we have to try, right? Let’s look at what options there are at least.” 

Mando sighs and turns to make his way to the cockpit. You follow. He sits down still holding his side. And pulls up his galaxy map. 

“We can make it about a parsec.” He starts to scroll through the known planets listed nearby. He goes so fast you don’t have time to even read the name let alone the description. He pauses for a brief moment on one. “Hmm, that’s interesting.”

“What?” You asked excitedly. 

“Just somewhere I was a long time ago. It should be safe. And we can find shelter there. And best of all, we will just barely be able to make it.” 

You smile at the news, “What planet?”

“Sorgan.”

—-♡—-

You feel the ship hit the ground and let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. Mando said that he knew of a place on this planet that he could find shelter and it would be safe for you and the child to stay as well. He didn’t give you any more details than that. 

“Stay with the ship. I need to make sure that there aren’t any more surprises waiting for us.”

“No way, Mandalorian. You are in no condition to fight. I should be the one who scouts around,” you protest.

“No, they won’t know you.” 

“Who?” You are curious and want to know what you are walking into. He doesn’t answer you and goes to debark the ship. “Okay well, I’m coming with you.” You stand to follow him. You hear Mando sigh deeply and as you get to the bottom of the ladder you see him bend over and pick something up out of your bag.

“At least, wear your glasses.” He sounds exhausted and you just want him to sit down for a minute. You take the glasses from him and slip them over your head. 

“You made me forget what I was for a minute,” You say it lightheartedly but realized it sounded a lot more pathetic than intended. 

“Carry the kid.”

You nod and bend to pick up the child and place him in your arms. You notice Mando putting his chest plate back on. 

“Is that really necessary? I don’t want you to reopen the wound.” He looks in your direction as if to acknowledge you but says nothing. 

He lowers the ramp with a button on his wrist. You are surprised to see three men standing near the bottom holding wooden spears and one aiming his blaster. Mando pushes you behind him out of instinct and you peek out from behind his shoulder. The planet is green and lush. Night is falling quickly over the grassy fields and trees.

“Mando?” One of the men steps closer. He is human with dark skin and short black hair. 

“Yes.” He replies stiffly 

“Go tell the others. It’s Mando.” The man barks to one of the men behind him.

One of the men breaks away and starts to run towards a small group of lights not far off in the distance. Mando starts down the ramp and staggers a little, you go to catch him and support his weight as best as you can. 

“Mando, are you okay?” The other man rushes to his other side but he brushes him off. 

“He needs rest. And nourishment. Quickly.” You answer for him, knowing that he would’ve lied.

“Yes of course. Right, this way. Caben, get the cart. Quickly!” You start walking behind them, as one runs ahead to fetch a cart that you hope you can ride the rest of the way. You step forward with a hunched over Mando. The droid pulling the cart stops in front of you with a few worried beeps. You can hear the Mandalorian about to protest so you step up and start to help him in. 

“This is perfect. Thank you.” You give no room for a protest from him to deny in riding the cart. And soon you are walking next to him as it pulls him along towards the lights, which twinkle as they get closer and closer. 

“Hey, we’re almost there, okay?” It dawns on you that the two of you had been holding hands this entire time, without you noticing. You give it a tight squeeze and feel him squeeze back gently. You continue to hold his hand and lean down and whisper, “If you give up now, pal, I am going to have to kick your ass.”

You hear a pained chuckle from under the helmet. “Doubtful, Y/N.” 

“Let’s not find out, okay?” You squeeze his hand again and continue to walk alongside the cart. You continue to walk towards the lights and you see as you get closer that it's a small fishing village. As you arrive you see a large group gathered at the edge of the lights looking towards the oncoming cart. 

You could hear the whispered question of villagers. 

“Look, there is his!” 

“Who is that with him?”

“Where is the child?”

The man that had followed behind you steps in front and calls out to the group. 

“Our friend the Mandalorian requires rest, he is injured.” There was a hush gasped that washed through the crowd. A woman with long brown hair down to her waist steps forward and rushes to the side of the cart. You drop his hand. Mando sees her and tries to sit up, back falls back down in a gasp of pain. She goes to help him and you do the same thing. You both end up taking an arm and helping him out of the cart. 

“I can take it from here. Thank you.” The woman offers her hand to him and he takes his arm out from around your waist and places it into her hand with his other still draped around her shoulder. You watch helplessly as the two of them start to walk away through a part in the crowd. You see the villagers giving nods in Mando’s direction. Saying subdued ‘hellos’ and ‘welcome backs’ as he walks out of sight. 

A little girl with short brown hair tugs at the hem of your cloak. 

“Excuse me, but where is Mando’s child?”

You bend down so you are at her level. You point to the back of the cart where the child is still sleeping soundly. “He is sleeping. I am sure he will want to play in the morning.” The little girl looks slightly disappointed but smiles up at you with interest.

“What’s your name, Miss?”

“My name is Y/N. And what is yours?”

“My name is Winta.” You can see she is looking you up and down. She looks at your glasses with a strange expression on her face. “Are you friends with the Mandalorian?”

“Yes, I am. Do you know where that woman took him?”

“My mom?” The girl looks up at you brightly. “Yes. Would you like me to show you?” 

“That would be most kind of you.” You say smiling at the little girl.

You see most of the villagers are still looking at you with apprehensive looks. They look unsure of what to make of you. You aren’t sure if you should introduce yourself. You don't know how much you should reveal to this group and how much they could be trusted. You decide to try and win their trust after all the Mandalorian seemed to trust them which had to mean something. 

“I’m sorry to intrude upon you like this. The Mandalorian and I ran into trouble and we had no choice but to turn to you for help.” You lean into the cart and pick up the sleeping child and take him into your arms. “I hope this isn’t an inconvenience to your village. My name is Y/N and you have my thanks.” You try to speak as loudly as you can to the group of villagers still crowded around in a half-circle the cart. 

An older woman steps out of the crowd and takes your arm. “Any friend of the Mandalorian is a friend of ours, please our home is your home.” She begins to lead toward the small huts that stand in a circle inside a group of ponds. The woman looks up at you with the kindest eyes and smiles. “Come Winta, we must show her the farmhouse.” 

The little girl comes and takes your free hand. The two of them lead you through the small village which is filled with small huts, fishing racks with villagers gathered around small fires. The people are starting to return to their homes and you can feel the bustle of life around you. Winta looks up at you and tilts her head to one side. 

“Why are you wearing those glasses when it is dark outside?”

“Oh, come now Winta it is rude to ask our guest such questions.” The old woman scolds her. 

“No, it’s alright. These are for - I - I use them because I need them to see. I have poor eyesight.” You lied.

“You’re blind?” The little girl's eyes got wide. You can hear the older woman about to protest but you quickly respond.

“Not quite, but close.”

“Come here now, go see if he is sleeping.” The woman points to the hut behind them and you go to see for yourself but she holds you back as Winta scurries inside to check on Mando. You realize that she was talking to the girl and not you. “He may need to rest. Omera may be tending to him.” She assures you.

You are annoyed at this and annoyed that you were unable to see your friend. You wiggle yourself out of the woman’s grip intending to go inside to check on Mando yourself but she grabs your arm again and points to the child.

“Let’s get him comfortable, why don’t we.” Again you resisted the woman’s grip and pulled away from her. You did not like it when others lay their hands on you, no matter the scenario.

“He’s fine right now. Thank you.” You scoffed at the woman.

“I am not worried about his comfort.” She smiles at you sweetly and it dawns on you that she is worried about you. Not in a long time had someone been worried about you or how you were feeling. You were shocked. And in your shocked state the woman she takes the child in her arms and rocks him softly.

“Oh dear, look at your arms. And your neck! We better have her take a better look at you.” The older woman pushes you towards the door of the hut where you see Winta waiting for you. She reaches out and leads you inside. 

“Wait no, not without the child!” You exclaim turning around to go back but the little girl tugs your hand. 

“Don’t worry, Gran Utti will take good care of him.” 

You look around the small hut. Mando is laying on a cot and Omera is looking at some of his other wounds. You see that his armor is still on and you wonder if she looked over the wound on his side. Or if he had preferred to leave his armor on. Your mind wanders to how these two knew each other and how Mando had felt so comfortable upon seeing her. You didn’t think he was the type to make friends so easily. And you wonder why your stomach starts to twist in knots at the idea of him knowing her so well.

“Ma, Gran Utti asked that you look at Y/N as well.”

“Why yes, of course. Please come in sit.” She motioned for you to sit on the end of the cot next to Mando’s legs. The only free sitting space in the small area. You cross the small space and sit down.

“Are you hurt?” Mando’s voice sounds worried as he grabs your hand as you sit down and he squeezes it. 

“No, not even a scratch.” You squeeze his hand back. 

“Are you sure about that?” Omera takes a cloth and wipes your neck under your hair and you are surprised to see blood. You look down at your arms and for the first time, you realize that they are littered in small cuts and dried blood. She wipes on your scalp and you see more blood on the cloth. 

“I guess I spoke too soon.” You think back to when you could’ve gotten those cuts and realize it must’ve been when you were climbing in the trees. “Trees. Am I right?” You try and shrug off your embarrassment of having been wounded by trees. 

You spend a few minutes in silence as Omera helps clean off all your wounds and puts some medicine on the more serious ones. You flinch as she finishes applying some medicine to a large cut behind your ear. 

“Tell me, healer, am I going to make it?” You look up at Omera with a wink.

“I think both you and Mando are going to be just fine. But he needs to rest. He lost a lot of blood.” You are surprised to see that Mando is still awake as he turns his head to look at her. 

“Thank you, Omera.” Mando nods his head towards her and turns as if he is finally ready to rest. Omera looks at you. 

“This is the only space we have that’s empty - if you would like Y/N you are welcome to come rest with -”

“No, I can make do here.” You cut her off. The idea of sleeping in the company of two strangers sounds dreadful to you. Plus you wanted to be near Mando in case he needed anything during the night. “Thank you. For everything. Is there a place I can put the child down?”

She nods and exits the hut. A moment later she enters with a small wooden crib and places it across the room several feet away. You see it has several warm blankets already placed neatly inside.

“This is perfect. Thank you.” She turns to leave but Gran Utti walks through holding the child. You stand up to take him off her hands but she waves you off and instead walks to the crib. She rocks the child for a moment before placing a kiss on his head and setting him down gently. She turns around and puts a finger to her mouth before turning to shoo the other two out the door. 

You turn to look down at the child. You close your eyes for a moment and you can feel his energy in the room. You can sense the child peacefully sleeping. You can also sense that someone has their eyes on you. 

“I know you aren’t asleep, Mandalorian.”

You can hear some shuffling and turn to see Mando trying to stand up. You rush over and put your hands on his arms and push him back down gently. 

“You need to rest.” You slide the glasses down around your neck. 

“And so do you. You can have the bed.”

“No.” You kneel beside the cot and put your chin on the side of the cot and look straight at his shiny helmet. Mando turns his helmet to face you, so you are looking at the t-shape in the visor just a few inches away. You gently bring your hand up and put it on his helmet. “I really would like you to rest. For my sake. I don’t know how to fly a ship. And I don’t know if I want to be stuck here without you.”

“These people are good people, Y/N.” Mando says as he brings a hand up and rests it on top of yours. 

“I know, I can sense that. But I don’t think it’s safe here for very long.” 

“Why?” 

“Just a feeling, an instinct.”

“Is this another Jedi trick?”

“No, unfortunately, I don’t know any of those, my friend.”

You stay like that for a long time. Just staring at your reflection in his helmet. Your thoughts begin to wander. You close your eyes and you begin to feel yourself drift off. As you close your eyes you hear it again. The voice from your dream the night before whispering something to you. Your eyes open. You retract your hand from the Mandalorian’s helmet because you were sure he was asleep. 

In a voice so soft you could barely make out the words, you hear the Mandalorian whisper to you, “Will you stay…. By me?”

You are surprised by his request. But there is a part of you that is glad he asked. You smile and rub his shoulder tenderly before turning and rustling up a few blankets from the stack by the end of the cot and laying them out next to his cot. You reach up for his hand and squeeze it one last time before you feel yourself start to drift.  
—-♡—-

“It is time, Y/N.” 

Your eyes flash open. You are standing at the end of the same marble hallway as the night before. Only this time there is a bright red light illuminating everything. 

“It is time, Y/N.” The voice repeats. You begin to walk down the hallway searching for the voice. You notice that you are barefoot. You see a liquid starting to flow down the hallway towards you. It is red and as it touches your feet, it is hot and sticky. You realize in horror that you are stepping in blood. 

Suddenly standing in the air above you is the same figure as before. It is hooded and you cannot make out a face. 

“It is time, Y/N.” The voice is female, but it is deep and commanding. It looks down at you. “It is time for you to stop running from your past so that you can prepare for your future.” 

From down the hallway you see a red lightsaber ignite. You see the dark figure with piercing yellow eyes wielding the lightsaber start to slowly walk towards you. Suddenly, there is blaster fire going in every direction. You turn to run. But you can’t move. You see the ghosts of people running in all directions. Some wielding lightsabers as they are gunned down by blaster fire. You hear the pleas from others to spare their lives. You hear the cries of children begging to be spared. You turn to try and run. There is a pile of bodies in your way. You can see the faces of people and aliens lifeless staring straight back at you as you try and find a way around. You hear the screams of children coming from every direction. You cannot get out of the sea of bodies grows higher and wider and still the dark yellow eyed figure is getting closer and closer. It is beginning to swing the lightsaber menacingly in your direction. You try to scream for help but a black liquid starts to pour out of your mouth and onto your hands. The black liquid begins to cover your body as if it is going to consume you whole. You look down at the ground and the level of the blood is starting to rise faster and faster. He is getting closer. You can’t breathe. You need to get out.

You see a blinding red light before everything goes white.

“Now rise.”

You let out a scream and your eyes jump open. You are standing in the middle of the hut. With your hand outstretched and you vibroblade in it. You feel this energy all around you and you let it go. Everything around going sailing backwards including the bed that Mando was sleeping. You hear a confused yell and you try to gain control.

“Y/N!” Mando is on his feet searching for his blaster. 

You look over at Mando wide-eyed and confused, holding your vibroblade raised as if to strike him. 

“Y/N, it’s me. It is the Mandalorian. Put the blade down.”

Your breathing is uncontrollable. Tears begin to spill out of your eyes as you begin to sob. You drop your vibroblade and reach for Mando who takes your hand and pulls you in and grabs you by either side of the face. 

“Y/N. You are here. You are with me.” He rests his cool helmet against your forehead and you can fill the steady rise and fall of his chest as you try to gain control of your breathing. It takes a few moments for you to gain control but eventually your breathing slows and the tears begin to ease. Mando takes his helmet away from your forehead and pulls you closer to his chest. You can feel him wince in pain as you snake your arms under his. But you stand there for a while trying to gain as much composure as possible. 

“Another nightmare?” He asks after a long while.

“Yes,” is all you manage to say. You are too wrapped up in your thoughts. In the memories that had come flooding back. In everything you just experienced. But now you know. You know the truth. And you know that you must tell the Mandalorian. You let out a long slow breath. 

“Y/N? What aren’t you telling me?” He pulls back to look at you. And you know he is looking at your eyes. You pull back from him and turn to check on the child. Who despite the disruption is still asleep. His crib slightly rocked, but still upright thankfully. You close your eyes and can feel his calmness and try to absorb it.

You turn and face Mando. “I haven’t been entirely upfront with you Mandalorian. I haven’t told you the whole truth of what I am.”

Mando bends down and picks up the overturned bed. And slowly lowers himself down onto it. You can see he is still exhausted. And it would seem that you are going to need some time before you can fully explain whatever thoughts were racing through your head. After a minute of silence, he lies back down and turns his head to face you. You start pacing around the small space in the dark, still silent. 

“Y/N?” You hear Mando ask in the dark.

“I know it is just hard to know where to start.” You stop and sit down on the floor with your back to the cot leaning against it. You couldn’t look at him, not now. “My people, the xulkit. Well, we have always been known to be Force-sensitive. It had been known to the Jedi for a millennium.” You stop, you decide to hold nothing back, not now. Not after the dream. 

“During the war, right before the Empire came to power, they were secretly stealing Force-sensitive children from across the galaxy and trying to train them in secret to use against The Republic. The Jedi managed to stop them before any of the children became a threat. My brother was one of the children that was taken.” You take a deep breath. “The Jedi were worried that the Empire would continue to kidnap children that could eventually destroy the Republic, and thus the Jedi. So they went to every known planet with Force-sensitive children and brought them to the Jedi Academy on Coruscant. Because my brother had been taken, and because the Jedi had seen him to be strong in the Force, they decided that I was to be trained as well.”

You sat still for a moment. Letting the information sink in, you were still trying to process it all yourself. 

“I was no more than a toddler. His age, really.” You pointed at the crib. “But I was sent to the Academy to be trained in something I couldn’t understand to fight for a Republic that had been corrupted. Taken from my family to be given a master. That was the last I saw of my homeworld. I lived there and trained there for just a little over three years before the Empire came into its full power. As his first act, The Emperor ordered every man, woman, and youngling killed if they showed they could control The Force. Every Jedi Knight in the galaxy was to be hunted down and executed for crimes against the Republic. The Republic Army marched on the Jedi Academy and massacred everyone inside.”

You went silent. You remember your dream and the piles of bodies that laid lifeless before you. You couldn’t get the image out of your head. You looked down at your feet making sure there was no blood. You could’ve sworn that part was real. It felt real. The warmth and stickiness on your feet. You shuddered at the thought. You turned and looked at the Mandalorian who was facing you and watching with invested interest. You lay your head down on the side of the cot and stare back at him.

“There were a few Jedi who were able to gather some of the younglings and get them out in time. They knew the attack was coming, they somehow managed to get a warning from an ally within the New Empire. So they gathered as many as they could as quickly as possible and fled. I was one of the few who made it out with my life.” You hear Mando take a sharp breath in. You lay your forehead down on the cot and focus trying not to let your emotions overwhelm you. You take a deep breath and continue. 

“The mentor who guided us out of the Academy took us to the underworlds of Coruscant to hide us. The Empire’s army was looking for Jedi everywhere across the galaxy and she knew it was a matter of time before they found a group of gifted children. She did her best to erase as many memories of the Academy as possible. Making us swear we would never tell a soul that we possessed any special abilities. No matter what. Then she sold us into different cartels, knowing it was the only chance we would have to survive. Even the Empire knew better than to mess with the cartels. We would be able to live our lives unseen by the Empire.”

You felt his hand stroke the side of your check. You didn’t realize you had been crying. You lean into his touch for a moment. And just try and remember. Remember what it felt like that day when you had been ripped from your bed and dragged through the streets and handed over to someone who looked at you as if they were going to eat you. 

“I’ve been on the run ever since. Escaping cartel to cartel, prison to prison. Trying to win back my freedom. Just trying to survive. It has taken years for me to piece together the memories she tried to erase. From a life before the Empire. But now I think I have a clearer picture of what happened. I didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid. Afraid that you wouldn’t trust me if I told you I couldn’t remember. I’m sorry, I should’ve been honest from the start, Mandalorian. Please forgive me.” 

He remains silent next to you. You are scared that he is going to be angry. That he is going to tell you to get lost. You can feel him drawing circles on your scalp as you let more tears flow onto the cot next to him. 

“Din.”

You tilt your head to look up at him. “What?”

“My name is Din Djarin. My real name.” 

You are so surprised by this you pull your head up a little bit to look at him properly. 

“And I was taken from my homeworld when I was a child. I am not from Mandalore.” He turns his helmet so you know his eyes are right on yours. “I’m a foundling.” 

You stare back at him for a long moment taking it all in before you break out in a small smile.  
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Din. My name is Y/N L/N.” You jokingly stick your hand out for him to shake it and you hear a soft snort from behind his helmet as he turns to look up at the ceiling of the hut. You smile and lay your head back down and you feel his gloved hand continue to draw a circle on your scalp. “Din. I like that name. It suits you, Mandalorian.” 

—-♡—-

When you wake the next morning you find yourself curled in a small ball. You are wrapped around yourself making yourself as small as possible. You had often done this throughout your life to help yourself sleep when you were scared or threatened. You are surprised to find that you are laying on top of the cot with a blanket. You blink and take in the room. You are alone in the room and you see sunlight peeking out from the doorframe. You can hear the laughter of children playing outside and for a second you smile to be somewhere so peaceful. 

You slowly sit up and begin to stretch your arms and legs letting out a large yawn. You rub your eyes and stand up. On the chair by the door, you see a change in clothes with your glasses placed neatly on top. You quickly change out of your old blood-stained clothes and gladly put on the new ones. You assume they are from one of the villagers because you have never seen them before. You grab your glasses and pull them down over your eyes. Lastly, you make sure the vibroblade is secured on your upper thigh. 

You step out in the bright sunlight and are greeted by a chorus of voices and giggling. 

“You’re awake.” You hear Mando’s voice. You turn and see him leaning against the doorframe. You feel a tugging at your robe and see two big eyes looking at you. The child's arms are raised begging you to pick him up. “He has been trying to get to you all morning. I had to keep him out here so he wouldn’t wake you up.”

You reach down and pick up the child smiling widely. “Is that true my littlest friend? Have you been wanting to tell me something?” You pinch his ear and he coes up at you softly. “Thank you-” You hesitate because you are not sure if there are other ears listening. “Thank you, Din.” You finally say.

He nods. The child eagerly reaches up towards your forehead. You lift him slightly and place your forehead in his hands. You can sense him trying to make sure you are alright. It is as if he is trying to comfort you. 

“Yes, I am alright.” You smile at him. “Though I am a bit hungry.” You turn towards Din. He nods and leans down on a chair behind you and reveals a plate of delicious-looking food. 

“Made sure the kid didn’t eat it all.” The child sees the food and eagerly starts grabbing for it. You laugh and you set him down on the ground. 

“I’m sorry, little one. But I think this might be mine.” You take the plate from Mando and go to sit in the grass next to the hut. You cross your legs and soon feel two small hands on your knee looking at you expectantly. “Here,” You break off a small piece of bread and hand it to him and he takes it enthusiastically devouring it in one bite.

“If you give him any he will keep wanting more,” you hear Din say over your shoulder as he comes to join you sitting on a stump close by. The child taps your knee to remind you that he is still there and waiting.

“Yes, but it is very difficult for me to say no.” You say as you hand him another small piece of bread. “Did you eat already?”

“Before you woke.” 

“Are you feeling better?”

“Much. Thanks in large part to you.”

You smile at him lazily. You pass a few moments in comfortable silence as you eat your meal. You continue to feed the child small bites of bread and every time he decides he would like more he taps your knee expectantly. You sit there and reflect on the events of the night before and wonder if you should say something to Din. You realize now that he must’ve tucked you into the bed after you had fallen asleep last night. You suddenly feel embarrassed and you blush. You remember you had fallen asleep holding hands making sure each other knew that they were safe as long as the other was there. 

“Thank you, Din. For last night. For listening. For being there.” 

He looks at you with his helmet slightly tilted. “There is no need to thank me.” You can’t help and smile at his casual kindness. You are starting to see that maybe the reputation of the Mandalorian wasn’t everything that there was to him. 

“Y/N, I need to ask you something.”

“Anything.” You say between bites. The child taps your knee again and you rip off another piece of bread. 

“If you couldn’t remember anything because the Jedi played a mind trick on you, I understand. But can you remember anything? Anything. That might help us find more answers. About him.” He looks at the child who swallows a small piece whole and instantly starts to tap your knee. You ponder for a moment before answering.

“My memories of that life have come back in flashes over a long period of time.” You say slowly, choosing your words carefully. “But last night was the first time it felt like I understood the entire story. Like I understood why all of this has happened to me. But it still feels foggy. And I still am unsure of what is real, and what may be fake.” 

The child whines as he starts to tap your knee more rapidly. You hadn’t given him another piece and he was growing impatient. 

“The only thing I can tell you that I am sure is that there was a Jedi Academy on Coruscant and it had a large archive of the Jedi. But the Empire destroyed it. And all the records kept within. They left nothing behind.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, the Empire wanted to eradicate any belief in the Jedi quickly. They knew that some people still placed hope in them to help bring peace to the galaxy.” The child is now trying to climb into your lab in order to reach the plate of food. You rip off another larger piece of bread and feed it to him and he plops down on the ground in front of you admiring it before eating it in one large bite. 

“If we went to Coruscant, would we be able to discover something? Something that could help us track down his kind?” 

You shake your head. “I think the risks are too high. Coruscant is still crawling with Imperial loyalists. Plus they built an Imperial temple over the old ruins.” The child tapped your knee again, this time opening his mouth. “Okay, little one, this is the last piece I can give you. Do you understand?” He simply stands there with his mouth open and taps your knee again, waiting. You sigh and place the food in his mouth. 

You hear a giggle behind you and see Winta approaching the three of you. 

“Miss Y/N, would you mind if we took him to play by the ponds?” You are surprised that she asks you for permission and not Mando.

“I think he would like that very much, thank you. Winta, right?” She nods and you scoop up the child and hand him to her. He is still staring at the food remaining on your plate. She turns and starts to make her way back towards the other children who appear to be waiting excitedly.

“Be careful with him. By the water.” Mando adds. She nods in acknowledgment. The child gives a small giggle as she turns and runs to join the other children. 

“How long until you think you are fully recovered? And be honest with Mandalorian?” You turn and look at him directly. Despite his helmet and your glasses, you can feel his gaze on you.

“Only a day or two. You did a good enough job patching me up.” He taps his side. “It should be healed in a day. Maybe two.” You stand, your plate is now empty. You realize only now how hungry you had been. You walk over and touch his shoulder gently and look down at him. 

“Well, I’m glad my skills as a healer are up to your standards. I hope I don’t have to use them too often.” You breeze past him and start to walk away from the village running your fingers along the tall grass. 

“Where are you going?” Din asks you as he stands to follow.

“On a walk.” You smile shyly in his direction. He doesn’t say anything else but continues to follow you as you walk along a small path through the trees. You stop once or twice to examine a flower, or to have a closer look at the pond. But you make your way to the tree line that surrounds the village. Mando follows you wordlessly admiring you as you seem to soak in all the beauty of this planet. Things he had never noticed before, seem to hold some sort of special wonder in your eyes. You notice the smallest details and admire each one as if it was the most fascinating thing on this planet. 

“Have you been to Mandalore?” you asked him out of the blue once you reached the cover of the trees and you were looking over the forest floor for more wildflowers.

“Yes.” He replies. 

“Is it true? That the planet is too hostile to live on? That your people have been forced to live in domed cities for a millennium?” You look up at him.

“Yes.” 

“Hmmm,” is all you say back. You slip off your glasses and hang them around your neck so you can see around in perfect detail. Mando is once again taken aback by how striking your features are. He didn’t usually notice these types of things because it was of no interest to him, but he thought you were one of the most beautiful creatures he’d ever seen. You can sense that he is staring at you as you examine a huge purple wildflower that is growing around the trunk of the tree. 

“Did you have something you wanted to say to me, Din?” You turn to face him.

“How do you know so much of the Mandalorians?”

“I spent time on Ankhural. After the war.” 

“You served Death Watch?” There is an edge to his voice.

“Not directly, no.” You just smile at him and reach out and take his hand so you can place the large purple flower in it. 

You spend the afternoon wandering around the village. Din in tow. You meet some of the villagers and they are very generous to both of you. They offer you food and drink but you decline, feeling uncomfortable eating in front of Din. You learn of their fishing operation and how Mando had saved them from raiders. They show you how to fish and find out that it is much harder than you thought. You play with some of the children around the village and you can tell that they are excited by your company.

Eventually at the end of the day, several of the young girls find you and beg to braid your long hair before they were sent to bed. You agreed. You sat next to the fire with your eyes closed as the girls worked on braiding your hair, and adding a few flowers that you had picked. Even now you can feel the Force flowing through you. As you concentrate more you can feel the girl's happiness. You can feel the ground beneath and how it teams with life. You can feel the other villagers around you. You can feel the warmth and happiness that they share among each other. 

You can also feel tension. Like there is something just out of reach. You feel as if there is something important that you are missing. 

“Miss Y/N, your hair is done. You look beautiful. Doesn’t she, Mando?” One of the little girls giggles excitedly. You opened your eyes, you weren’t wearing your glasses so that they could reach your hair. You can see out of the corner of your eye that Mando is standing watching them with his legs and arms crossed leaning on the doorframe of the hut watching you.

“Yes. She does.” 

You snap your eyes close. You know that they would give away the lightness you feel in your stomach as you hear his voice calling you beautiful. 

“Could you hand me my glasses, please?” You reach out your hand and feel them land in your palm. You slip them on. Once they are secure you reach back and lightly stroke your hair, smiling. “Thank you so much. I am very grateful.”

They are all looking at you dumbfounded. “Did you see that Miss Y/N?” 

“See what?”

“You glasses. They were over there. And then you put your hand like this and then they zoomed over to your hand. Whoa. That was SO COOL!” 

You realize that without meaning to, you had used your powers. You don’t panic and instead, begin to laugh it off.

“You think that my glasses moved? All on their own?” You start to laugh a little harder and the girls join in. “You must be crazy? Glasses can’t move.”

“But I saw it!” The little girl says excitedly. 

“And I suppose you think The Mandalorian can move that stick over there with his mind too?” 

The three girls turn excitedly to him. “Well can you Mr. Mando, sir?”

“No.” He answered them coolly. He walked over and gave you his hand and you stood up brushing off your pant legs. “We need to be going.”

“Thank you, girls. I shall never forget what a great job you have done!” You give them each a tiny side hug and you hear them each give tiny giggles as they run off towards their own home. 

“You need to be careful, Y/N.” You were surprised by the amount of concern in Mando’s voice. “We can’t let them know. It puts us all at risk.” 

“I know, I-” You stop yourself. You really don’t have anything to say so you look at the ground and hold your arms close to yourself. You feel Din slide his hand in yours and squeeze it once before letting go. 

“Come on, it’s been a long day.” 

—-♡—-

You insist that Din sleep on the cot because of his injuries. He is very reluctant to agree but you refuse to move once you’ve made your bed on the floor telling him that you are too comfortable, which isn’t a complete lie. The room is very still for a few moments before you can’t help yourself any longer. 

“Can you sleep? With it on, I mean. It seems like it would be very uncomfortable.” 

“It is preferable to sleep with it off. But I can manage. Don’t worry about me.” 

“So you do take it off? When was the last time?”

“Yes, Y/N. I took it off before dinner. To eat.”

You know he was probably annoyed with your questions but now that the two of you were able to actually talk you just couldn’t resist any longer. “So, you just can’t let others see your face? Why?”

“This is the way.” 

“I understand that but why?”

“Because it is the path of a Mandalorian.”

You are quiet, deciding not to push the topic any further. You knew what it was like to have people ask deeply personal questions. When Mando speaks you are surprised at how light his tone sounds.

“I am surprised it took you this long. It is usually the first thing people want to know about us.”

“Not me. No, I want to know the important stuff about you first.” You are both quiet for a moment and you wonder if he is going to respond. 

“Like what?” He asks quietly. 

“Hmm, what is your favorite color?” You ask.

“Purple.” He replies without a moment of hesitation. 

“I’ll remember that.” You muse as you turn on your side to sleep. “Goodnight, Din.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i made some seriously deep comic book and rebels references here. how we feeling about this backstory? it's a little like fallen order I guess, but I picture her being a lot younger. I know that ive said this before but i love writing baby yoda so much he is my favorite. I am going to try and post the next part by thursday! (5/7)


	5. v - the search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorian runs into an old friend. You continue your search for answers on how to control this new found power as you struggle even more to control the bubbling force within.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lil bit of made-up lore. lil bit of KOTOR. lots of sexual chemistry starting to happen.

You spend the next few days doing the same thing. You help the villages with a few small tasks here and there. You find that you are starting to grow fond of this place and the people here. Their warmth and kindness are not something that you are used to but you think you might want to start getting used. Especially with Din around.

On the fourth day, you feel a sense of uneasiness all morning that you cannot shake. You tell Din that you are going to the woods to meditate. Alone. So, of course, he gets up to come with you.

“No, please stay. I need to do this alone.” He titles his visor towards you. “I’m fine really. I just need some quiet time. To, you know...think.” You put a hand on his shoulder and squeeze it reassuringly.

You make your way to the tree line around the village and check to make sure none of the village children followed you. The children had taken quite a liking to you and while you enjoyed their company it could get to be a bit overwhelming for someone like yourself who was used to spending most of their time alone. You slide the glasses off your face and find a small patch of grass and sit cross-legged. You close your eyes.

You were starting to understand the feelings that came with your power. You understood better how the Force connected all living things. You could feel that connection flow through you and around you as you tried to concentrate. You understood that you could use this energy. You could bend it to your will. But you needed to be careful because it was powerful and needed to be properly handled. You concentrate on the feeling in your legs. On all the small things around you. You try to move it. To bend it. It doesn’t work. So you concentrate harder. You focus everything you have on lifting your body in the air. Just a small amount. You feel yourself start to move to lift slowly in the air.

You breathe slowly and deliberately. Focus.

Focus.

Be one, be here.

I am One with The Force and The Force is with me. I am One with The Force and The Force is with me, you whisper to yourself over and over again.

Then you hear it again. The voice from before. It is as if they are next to you.

“You must run, Y/N. Evil approaches!”

You see a flash of light. A stranger leaning against the Razor Crest. Mando is standing next to him, blaster at his feet with one hand in the air and the child in his arms. The stranger has a blaster aimed at your head. He pulls the trigger. You feel the blaster rip through you.

You open your eyes and you are 10 feet in the air. You lose control of yourself and land on your feet in a kneeling position. Your hand goes to your vibroblade stored at your side. You look around and see no one. You know what you have to do. You get on your feet and start running.

You run back into the village and frantically search for Mando. You see Omera and grab her by the shoulders.

“Omera, where’s Mando?” Your voice is shaking. And she looks at you up and down.

“Y/N, are you alright? I-”

“Where’s Mando?!”

She points in the direction of the hut the two of you had been staying in. And as you turn to go she grabs your arm.

“But I just brought him his supper,” Omera adds, understanding what she means you nod and take off running towards the small hut.

You reach it, out of breath and shaking. “Mandalorian, it’s urgent I must speak with you. Now.” You yell through the door.

You hear a shuffling of metallic footsteps and the clink of his helmet before Mando pulls back the door.

“Y/N, are you -”

You grab him by either side of the helmet and look him right where his eyes would be. “We need to go. Now.”

“Go? Where?” He is startled by your sudden movement putting his hands on top of yours and lowering them to his side. He continues to hold them, you feel as if you are going to explode so you practically yell at him.

“We need to leave this planet. I can’t explain it. But we need to go. We aren’t safe here.”

“Y/N hold on. What do you-”

You grab him by the helmet again, this time with tears springing into your eyes. You place your forehead on his helmet and try to control your breathing as best as you can. “I had another one of those visions. Someone is coming for the child. And he is going to kill me. We need to leave.”

“Who was he?”

“I’m not sure, a bounty hunter. Worn blue armor. He had a sun tattooed across his left eye.” You close your eyes to picture him and you can feel the blaster rip through you again.

The Mandalorian grabs both your hands and considers you.

“Get the kid. I’ll get what I can. Be in the cart as quickly as you can. Go.” he commands.

“You know who it is, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

You didn’t think to ask more, your mind shifting solely to protecting the child.

—-♡—-

You felt terrible for saying such rushed goodbyes. You didn’t have time to explain to the villagers why you had to depart on such short notice.

“Surely you can stay until the morning?” Omera argued with Mando as he loaded up the supplies you had gathered. He had already fueled up the ship at a larger settlement nearby in the days previous.

“I’m sorry. It’s difficult to explain. But this is how it must be.” The Mandalorian turns and faces her. “You have my thanks. I can offer you payment.”

Omera looks offended by his offer. “I don’t need your credits. We always take care of our friends here.” She turns to look at you. Her eyes soft, but sad. “Take take of him.”

“I will. Make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.” She hugs you and you can see that tears are forming in her eyes. “Thank you Omera, for everything. I can never repay you.”

“And you don’t need to.” She squeezes your shoulders one last time before walking away to hold a crying Wint’s hand as she waves goodbye to the tiny child once again.

A few of the other villagers are gathered around you as you load the last few things on the cart. You say your goodbyes, giving each of the children a warm hug. When you are out of earshot of the village, Din turns to you.

“How long do you think we have?”

“I wish I could say.”

“These visions of yours are not going to be very helpful if they don’t answer any of our questions.”

You don’t reply. But walk a little faster next to the cart. The child gurgling in your arms, happily. You feel a bit annoyed, but then again he couldn’t possibly understand. You weren’t completely sure you trusted yourself to understand what all of this meant, it was all so new to you. You were relying on your memories from a former life and the stories you had heard from other slave children about the legends of the Jedi. It was not exactly a lot to go on. Or to trust in. If you were in his boots you are sure that you would be irritated.

You approach the ship quickly. Din lowers the ramp and you go to help him carry what you can up to the ship.

You sense it before you hear it. But you have no time to react. A warning shot fired over Mando’s head. He spins around, his blaster pointed the direction of the shot. You hold the child closer to your chest ready to make a break for it.

Then you feel it, the cold hard barrel of a blaster against the side of your head. And you feel a person’s breath on your neck.

“Go on, pretty lady. Scream.” His breath is hot on your neck as he grabs you by the waist and yanks you hard into his arms. Mando hears him and spins around ready to shoot but holds his fire when he sees the position he has you in. “You see catching a Mandalorian isn’t so hard. I’ve got you surrounded. One wrong move and I’ll kill your girl here.” He turns and takes a long deep breath of your hair and you almost gag. “Actually, you know what? I changed my mind. I am going to make you beg for her life before I kill her and take that thing for my reward.”

Hot red anger flashes through you like nothing you have ever felt.

“No.” You whisper calmly.

“I’m sorry what was that sweetheart?” He grabs you by the hair and yanks your head back putting the blaster right against your throat. “Be quiet for me, okay honey? The adults are talking.” He points between himself and Mando.

“Now here’s what I want.” He grabs you by the hair again and kicks your knees out from under you. You let out a grunt of pain and fall to the ground making sure the child is protected by covering him with your body. You lay him softly on the ground so your hands are free. “I want you to come over here. I want you to take off that stupid helmet look her in the eye and apologize for getting her killed.”

“I told you, no.” You growled. You turn. You throw your hands in the air and the man goes flying backward hitting a nearby tree with an ear-splitting crack. You throw yourself over the kid to protect him from any oncoming blaster fire. You hear a rustle in bushes and several pairs of feet as three more men walk out blasters aimed at you now.

“You don’t want to do that,” Mando says blasters raised towards them. “Did you see what she did to your friend? She will do much worse to you.”

You register that Mando is trying to negotiate his way out of this.

“Do you know how much that thing is worth, Mando? More than any reward this galaxy has ever seen.” The guy in front says. “So, we’ll take our chances.”

“Okay.” You stand up and take out your vibroblade. “Have it your way then.”

Without hesitation one of the men fires his blaster towards you. You raise your hand and the blaster bolt stops inches from your raised palm. You can hear a slight gasp from the other two men as you step out of its way and it hits the trees behind. Mando raises his blaster and the other two fire towards him. You see one hit him in the beskar and he tumbles backward.

  
The other man has his focus solely on you and starts to rapidly fire in your direction. You continue to send the bolts flying in different directions as they seem to be bouncing off your hand. One of the other men lunges towards you and you jump high enough to dodge him and flip behind the other two. With one swing of your blade you cut off the first man’s head and his body crumples to the ground. You duck as the other two try to shoot in your direction. You single the bolts flying back in their direction so they are caught off guard as you wave your hands and one of them goes flying back hitting hard against a tree. Mando looks up and blasts the last one man in the back and he falls to the ground.

Mando stands stunned for a minute. Looking to where you stand hulking over the decapitated corpse.

“I think I like them better with their heads off.” You say as you lean over to clean your blade on the grass.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Mando mutters.

He turns to the man that you had thrown against the tree. He walks over to him and checks to see if he is breathing. “He’s alive.”

“Should I change that?” You ask as you walk over, raising your blade.

“No, we need to know what he knows.” Mando leans over and slaps him hard in the face and the man begins to grumble. You run back to the cart and grab your water canteen. You run back and pour water over the man’s head. His eyes open and for a second you can see the fear in his eyes as Mando leans over him.

“Who sent you?” Mando asked with a blaster under his chin.

“Isn’t this strange, seeing you like this Mando.” The man glances between the two of you as he coughs and you see blood running down his chin. “Heard you’d gone soft.”

“He won’t ask again.” You say raising the blade.

“Oh I know, sweetheart. Me and your boyfriend here, we go way back. Don’t we Mando?” The man is smiling now as if this is some big joke.

Mando doesn’t react to this. “How did you know we were here?” He pushes the blaster harder into his chin.

“You know, Mando, for a guy who doesn’t like attention. You sure got a lot of people talking. I heard they are even asking about you around the New Republic.”

“You lie.” You snarl.

“I knew that the thing was something special for the amount of credits they were willing to shell out for the little guy. But you, wait till they find out about you honey.”

You lunge forward and replace Mando’s blaster with your blade under his chin. “Call me honey one more time.”

“Sure thing...sweetheart.”

The intense feeling of rage that you felt earlier returns and this time you can’t control it. It consumes you completely and clouds your vision. You raise your arm and it feels as if your own hand is around his throat as you use the Force to start strangling him.

“Y/N!” You can hear your name being called from somewhere distant. “Y/N!” You feel a hand on your arm and you are pulled out of the fog and see Mando looking at you. The man is struggling to breathe. You release him for the choke. You look at your hands, shocked.

“I’m sure you will remember this, Fade,” Mando says to him.

“He can’t stay alive, he will tell others about me. About the child.”

“She’s right, Mando, better kill me now-” In one swift motion, Mando raised his blaster and shot him in the head. You take a deep breath trying to regain control. You clench and unclench your fist. You close your eyes.

“You’re hurt.” You feel his gloved hand on your check. You open your eyes and smile up at him. You both stand there for a moment as you lean into his touch until you feel a tugging at your robes. You look down and the child is staring up at you with a worried expression.

“Oh, I’m so sorry you had to see that, dear one. Don’t look at the bad men. Come on let’s get you on the ship.”

  
—-♡—-

It’s been weeks now. And you feel as if you and Din had settled into a sort of routine. You spend most of your days traveling from planet to planet. When you find a planet isolated enough and safe enough, the three of you camp out for a night. If you absolutely love it Din may agree to let you spend an extra night. Then you’d pack up and head for the next one.

While you were traveling through space, however, you insisted that he sleeps while you watch the ship. You knew he was afraid that you would catch him with the helmet off. And so you swore to stay in the cockpit the entire time. You set a small timer you had found and he goes down to his cabin and then you’d wait in the cockpit. You swore that you wouldn’t leave for any reason until you feel him tap you on the shoulder giving you the okay - his helmet was back on. Then you would trade places and you would sleep for a few hours. For meals, you would make whatever rations were available and walk up to the cockpit leaving him a small plate with his food. Then you and the kid would enjoy your meal down below. You never questioned it and he felt grateful to have someone who understood. When there wasn’t much to do in between planets, you would sit in the co-pilot's chair and ask aimless questions. Or you would sit in comfortable silence while you played with the kid.

You felt comfortable. And Din didn’t want to admit it but he was very fond of your company. He enjoyed listening to you talk to the kid. He enjoyed listening to some of the stories you remember hearing as a kid. Occasionally, he would get up the nerve to ask you a question about your past. He didn’t like to hear about how poorly you had been treated. He didn’t like to think about your bright spirit and how others had taken advantage of you. He also knew that he was reserved, shy. And that he was not great at showing how much he had come to care for your company. One afternoon he heard you remark about how much you hated the robes you had because of how worn out they had gotten and how much you hated constantly having to repair them.

While out getting supplies on one of your pitstops, he noticed a beautiful set of robes for sale. They were finely made, a bit expensive, but he knew it would be worth it. He grabbed two pairs of what he hoped were close to your size and hopefully, he picked the colors you liked. When he presented them to you back on the ship you were generally flabbergasted by his kindness towards you.

“Din, I don’t know what to say. This is the most- I- just thank you.” You pull him in for a tight hug. As he pulls away from you, he notices that you are starting to cry.

“Y/N, if you don’t like-.”

“No, Din! I love them. No one has ever given me something like this before. I’ve never owned a new pair of robes before. I really can’t believe it.” You run your hands over the material with a look of complete disbelief in your golden eyes.

Din feels his heartbreak a little at your confession. Instead of saying anything more he just pulls you in for another hug. This time you don’t break apart for a much longer time as you sob quietly into his shoulder. A feeling of pure joy envelopes you.

  
—-♡—-

  
You land on an isolated planet somewhere on the outer rim. Din lowers the ramp and you are greeted with blowing dust. You see large red rocks formations as far as you can see. They are raged and tall. You see patches of grasses and shrubs littering the landscape. The sun is already setting and you see four bright moons rising above you in the night sky, they are so bright it also feels like it could be day time.

You put the child down and he starts to waddle down the ramp. About half a mile ahead you see a small pond. You swing your bag over your arm and follow the child down. He is already chasing some of the night time bugs that are leaping in the grass at the bottom of the ramp.

“Stay here,” Din moves in front of the both of you and pulls his blaster out. “I will make sure it’s safe.”

“It’s safe.” You roll your eyes at him.

“You don’t know that.” He puts his hand on your arm to stop you from walking forward anymore.

“Yes, it is. I am psychic, remember?” You point to your head. The child catches a large beetle in his hand and holds it up for Mando to see. You lean down and grab it out of his hand before he eats it. You look up at Mando. “Go check it out, Din. We will wait here.” You know that he won’t be able to relax until he sees for himself that it’s safe. He still doesn’t trust you or believe what you can do.

You walk to the bottom of the ramp and sit cross-legged on the ground. You had been trying to meditate as you had been taught at a young age. Or least you think you remember being taught. You had been encouraging the child to join you, but it was rather hard to keep his attention for more than a few minutes at a time. This time you grab him and sit him down in your lap.

“I am one with The Force and The Force is with me,” you say it out loud so the child can hear you. You rest your hands on your knees and you feel the child grab them and try to get you to play. “I am one with The Force and The Force is with me.” He continues to twiddle with your finger as you try and concentrate on the energy around you. As you try and feel the flow of The Force through your body. You sit there for a few minutes before you hear Din’s voice.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that with him in your lap.”

You open your eyes and see that you had once again been levitating off the ground. Your knees are just at the height of Din’s shoulder. He reaches up and takes the child off your lap and you relax and land on your feet looking up at him.

“I’m perfectly in control. And plus he needs to learn.” Din only huffs in your direction. As he goes to gather a few things from the ship with the kid in tow. He comes back out with his bag and a small crate and the crib by his side.

He picked a spot between the ship and the pond to set up camp. You follow silently behind him. And quietly get all your things in order as he starts to make a fire. The child continues to waddle around trying to catch the bugs. It is quiet for a few moments as you layout your sleep sack, placing yours and Din’s side by side, knowing that you’d likely fall asleep holding his hand as you had been for the last few weeks.

“I think I need to teach you to fight.” Din breaks the silence.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I mean to really fight. Without - well - without whatever it is that you have.” He finishes. “I mean really fight.” He makes a punching motion in the air.

“I think I can handle myself. Plus I have a Mandalorian bodyguard. No one is thick enough to pick a fight with me.” You smirk up at him.

“I might not always be there to help.”

“I wasn’t referring to you, Din.” You nod your head in the direction of the child, who is looking sleepy-eyed at the two of you. Din is incredibly touched by your words. He looks at you for a minute with total admiration. And he can see that your eyes are a lovely shade of purple even in the oncoming darkness. “But alright, I wouldn’t mind learning a few things from a legendary Mandalorian like yourself.”

He just nods back down at you as you take the child in your lap to cuddle him to sleep.

  
—-♡—-

“Keep your feet planted. And try and put more of your body into it.” You swung at him again and he dodged you and grabbed your arm and twisted it behind you back. “Better. But you need to be faster.”

You were sweating. It turns out that this planet had shorter daylight hours, but that they were hot. Very hot. It was late afternoon now but you could still feel the sun scorching your back. You had stripped down so that your arms were completely bare, and your midriff was showing. Trying to find some relief. Beads of sweat rolled down your forehead and neck. You could not believe that Din was able to stand the heat in his full armor. You had asked if he needed a break, or if he wanted to remove some of it, but he insisted he was fine.

You were growing ever more frustrated throughout the day with your Mandalorian teacher as he continually threw new challenges at you. It felt unfair that you had to learn to fight someone in full body armor, in the burning hot sun, with such little experience. But he told you that you needed to be prepared for anything.

You threw another kick in his direction which he dodged. You threw another punch with your right arm and he grabbed your fist. So you threw a punch with your left hand and he grabbed it and pulled you straight into his chest. You were inches from his helmet. You could see your breath on his visor as breathed heavily. You sat for a minute looking up at him as he held onto both your arms. You were definitely too close and it was giving you some rather inappropriate thoughts about your Mandalorian friend. You let off a grunt of anger before you shove him off frustration.

“You’re getting better, try again.”

You throw a kick before he expects it and it lands straight on his gut. He stumbles backward so you raise your leg to kick him again but this time he catches your foot and twists it so you go spinning to the ground. You land face down in the dirt. In your frustration, you can feel the rage boil over and you turn and throw your arms out at him sending him flying backward and hitting a rock face a few meters back.

He lets out a surprised yelp before he crumples to the ground.

“Din!” You cry as you scramble to your feet and rush to his side. You kneel down next to him. You hear the child in the background letting out a surprised cry. You put your hands on his chest searching to make sure he is alright. “Oh maker, I didn’t mean to do that. I have no idea what happened.” You say in a rush as you run your hands over his chest plate. You can feel him breathing but he is staring straight ahead, unmoving. You put your hands on either side of his helmet. “Din! Please talk to me.”

You see his head tilt in your direction. “I’m fine, just give me a minute.”

He tries to stand and stumbles a little bit so you go to help him. He leans on you as he gains his footing and stands up straight. He takes you by both shoulders and looks you straight in the eyes. “Y/N, you need to learn to control this. Before it controls you. Before it controls him.” You look down and the child. He is reaching his hands up asking Din to pick him up. He obliges. “You are supposed to be his teacher.”

“I know. I am trying, you know?” You look to the ground. “I don’t know how - I can’t seem to control it. No matter how hard I try. It feels like it overwhelms me. Like it engulfs me whole and I can’t stop it. But I am trying.”

He takes your chin in his hands so he can see your eyes. You know he likes to look at you directly to see whatever it was that your eyes were doing. You always wonder what he sees and if he knows what he sees.

“I know you are trying, Y/N.”

You look back at his visor and smile. You don’t break contact with him until the child grabs at him begging for his attention. These moments had become much more regular between the two of you. Lingering touches. The grazing of hands as you passed by one another. Squeezing his shoulder to let him know you were close. Propping your legs up on his lap while you sat in the cockpit and rambled aimlessly at him. Sometimes him resting his hand on your leg while you sat by the campfire looking up at the stars - not talking, just looking. You would sometimes catch yourself staring at him longer than was appropriate. You wanted to picture what he looked like underneath the helmet. And sometimes you would catch him looking at you for too long and you would just pretend not to notice.

You knew that your feelings were growing stronger for the Mandalorian. But you thought it silly to view your relationship as more than a partnership. As anything more than just a friendship. He hadn’t chosen you to accompany him, he had been stuck with you by chance. So you pushed any feelings you might have away and tried to focus on learning as much as you could about the newfound power.

You didn’t know it, because he had trouble expressing it, but Din was starting to feel the same way towards you. He had never felt so strongly for another individual before, and he was having trouble understanding what it meant. He knew that you were important to him and that he was willing to do just about anything to make you happy. He knew that when he felt your touch, it sent a shiver down his spine. When you smiled at him his stomach felt like it was tying itself in knots. He couldn’t understand why these feelings were creeping up on him like this, but he knew that he felt a desire to protect you from any danger. He wanted to teach you to fight because it was important to him that you be able to defend yourself should it come to that. Should he not be there to help you. He couldn’t think of a universe without you in it.

It was difficult to understand exactly how to control something when you had never had a proper teacher. It was even harder when you didn’t know if there was even a soul alive that could teach you. You continued to meditate. You tried to remember. You tried to piece it all back together. You tried to remember anything that your mentor may have taught you. Anything she may have shown that could be of use.

Both you and Din decided to spend a third day on the Red Planet - that’s what you had decided to call it- he insisted on still training you to fight. And so you prepared yourself for another brutal training session when the ship received a transmission. It was a coded transmission from Cara.

“That’s odd. She usually doesn’t encrypt it like this.” Din muses.

“What does it say?”

“She found a lead. We need to meet her. On a planet named Korriban.” He leans over to punch in the coordinates.

You get an odd chill when he says the planet's name. “Korriban. Why does that sound familiar?” You say to yourself.

“It isn’t far here.”

“Din, I don’t think we should go…” your voice trails off. He turns to look at you.

“Why?”

“I just have...-” You can’t finish the sentence because you know he won’t like what you have to say.

“A bad feeling? An instinct?” He turns back around and looks at the screen. “It says it isn’t populated. Mostly barren. Shouldn’t we at least check to see if this leads to anything?”

“I don’t know Din, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Why don’t we fight for it. Winner decides. No special stuff.”

You know he is taunting you. And there is something inside of you telling you not to agree. Your gut is screaming at you that you shouldn’t go. That there is something terribly wrong. But you also want to prove yourself to Din.

“Fine. But you better be ready to get you ass kicked.”

The very next morning Din was plotting a course for Korriban despite your protests. Your stomach turned as the ship jumps into hyperspace. You just knew something was waiting for you on the other side and whatever it is, it can't be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone else seeing these easter eggs that I'm throwing in from another major sci-fi trilogy? or is it just me? the next chapter it'll be A LOT more obvious. A LOT. this chapter was mostly about their relationship and as blossoms, before.....things take a turn. (Gasp!)
> 
> I will be updating once a week from here forward, likely on Thursdays and Fridays, until the story end. so see you next week :)


	6. vi - the betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandolorian runs into some serious trouble and then faces an impossible choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote so much over the weekend I decided to go ahead and post this chapter. Happy Tuesday!

The ship is racing through hyperspace. As Din flips a few switches and looks off in the distance wondering in the back of his mind where you were. He hears you reappear at his shoulder. 

“I - uh - I made you something.” Your arms are behind you back as you sit in the co-pilot's chair. “It isn’t much really but I thought it might help you out with the kid.” You bring your arms around to reveal a brown sack. Din looks at it uncertainly. “It's a backpack. The kid fits in it and I made it so he can be secured in it too. See.” You open it up to show a strap across the middle. I figured since you get in trouble, a lot, and need to use your hands this might be useful. You had some old cloth lying around down there so I figured why not.” You stop rambling and look at him shyly 

Din isn’t sure what to say. He is grateful for such a thoughtful gift and impressed with how well made it is. He doesn’t say anything just takes it into his hands and gently touches the fabric.

“Y/N, this is kind of you. Thank you.” He looks up. He wishes you could see how grateful he really is, and how much this means to him. He wishes for the first time since he swore The Creed that the person in front of him could really see him. 

“It’s nothing. I learned a lot of things like that. Growing up with the cartels you have to learn to salvage what you can. I enjoyed making it, actually.”

The ship beeps at him warning him that they are approaching the drop from hyperspace. You lean over and grab the child who had been happily playing with his silver ball. The ship drops out of hyperspace and you see a brown looking planet off in the distance. Din scans it one more time. 

“I don’t pick up any life reading from here. But it says it is habitable.”

You are looking at the planet with a sense of dread. You just know something is wrong. But you don’t know what it is yet. As you fly down over the rough and rocky landscape the feeling grows overwhelming. You reach out and grab Din’s hand. You squeeze it tightly and close your eyes.

“I’m one with The Force and The Force is with me.” 

You need to concentrate but the feeling of dread is making your brain start to fog. Then you start to sense it. You can feel it. It starts to slowly consume you. It starts to creep into you as if it was coming through your fingers and through your toes. A darkness. An all-consuming darkness. You can’t resist it. It’s too powerful. Instead, you let it overcome you. It overtakes everything until you can no longer think. There is only the darkness. 

You don’t know how long you are like that. But finally, something deep within you begins to scream. It screams for you to fight. You have to fight back. You cannot let this win because it will kill you and everything you love. You think of the child. Of the Mandalorian. And an image flashes across your eyes of them dead at your feet. You hold the Mandalorians helmet. Your eyes pitch black. A black liquid pouring out of your mouth. 

You feel something pull you away. A softness. A touch on your hand, you can feel it. You can feel Din squeezing back. Your eyes rush open. You see Din’s helmet tilted towards you with concern.

“Din, this place is evil. We have to leave.”

“Are you alright? It felt like - well it felt like - like you left.” 

“We need to leave. The darkness. I - it’s - powerful. Too powerful to resist. it’ll consume him. We shouldn’t have come.” 

Din looks at you for a moment then down at the child. His eyes are closed now. You suddenly feel fearful that he is going through the same thing that you just had.

“It’ll kill him. Please. We need to leave.” You plead. 

He nods his head and turns by pressing a few buttons. The ship starts beeping at him. 

“That’s strange. I’m getting a lot of incoming signals.” Suddenly four ships appear directly in front of you. Din grabs the control to steer away from them but you can feel it already. And your stomach drops. The ship jerks. A tractor beam. It begins pulling you in towards the largest ship at the center of the four. Din starts furiously pushing buttons to try and make an escape but you know it's too late. 

“We need to hide the child.” You say standing. Din continues to furiously press buttons trying to get the ship enough power to break free. “Din, now!” You grab his arm forcefully and spin him around. He grabs your wrist as if about to fight, then stands. 

“This way.” 

You rush down to the cabin below. Din is searching on the floor. He starts banging until he hears a sound. He hits it hard and the panel pops up from the floor. Underneath is an empty compartment. You hand him the child who is wrapped snugly in a blanket. He is smiling up at you and giggling. You feel tears spring up into your eyes. 

“He will be safe down there, right?”

“For now.” He grabs the panel and covers it back up. He snaps it into place then turns to face you. “Put your glasses on.” You reach down and grab them. “Listen to me, Y/N. Let me do the talking. Whoever they are I’m sure I can work a deal with them. And don’t use your powers. No matter what.”

You nod at him trying to contain the tears that were threatening to overflow. You hear a loud thunk and know you are about to be boarded. Din reaches out and takes your hand. 

“You are going to be okay. I give you my word.” He is looking right at you when the ramp begins to lower down. You turn to face the intruders head-on. The ramp hits the ground revealing a rather large group of mercs with blasters all pointed in your direction. There is one alien who stands out from the rest. A pyke. He is at the front and leaning heavily on a cane. He smiles widely when he sees Mando. You hold on to Din’s hand as tight as you can as he slowly pushes you behind him in a protective stance. 

“Ah Mando, old friend. We meet again.”

“Unvek.”

“You’ve remembered! I am so glad. Come, come we have much to discuss.”

Several men with blasters pointed at you board the ship. They force you apart and push you roughly down the ramp until you are in front of Unvek. He is much taller than you and you can see his black eyes looking you up and down with interest. 

One of the men begins to pat you down roughly looking for weapons. He grabs the vibroblade from your thigh and he is a little too generous with his hands as he moves it further up your legs. Mando takes notice and grabs him and twists his arm back. All the men surrounding you quickly raise their blasters right and aim it at his head. Mando releases the man’s arm roughly and the man gives him a sarcastic grin.

“Oh, come now, Kaiden. These are our guests. We must treat them with respect!” Unvek turns around and begins to walk through the men. Many still have their blasters raised and pointed at Mando. You notice that a lot of them don’t look pleased to see him, spitting whispered threats in your direction. The man from before pushes you forward forcing you to follow once again being very generous with where he decides to put his hands. This time Mando steps in between the two of you and grabs the man by the neck.

“Try that again and see what happens.” He growls at the man.

The man grins back at him. “And you’ll what, Mando.” He spits on his helmet. He grabs the man tighter and you see the men around raise their blasters. You put your hand on his arm. 

“I’m fine.” You whisper. He releases the man and he looks at you, taking you by the arm and trying to protectively shield you as much as possible from the man as you continue to follow Unvek. 

“Yeah, you hear that Mando.” The man comes up behind you and grabs you by the waist and pulls you close so you are forced to walk side by side with him. “She’s just fine.” He gets so close to your ear you can feel his breath. 

“Kaiden!” Unvek calls. “You will show our guest the same respect you show me.” He taps his cane hard against the ground. But the grin on his face shows you that he doesn’t mean a word of what he is saying. He is enjoying this a little too much. 

“Yes, boss.” The man gives him a sarcastic salute. 

“Golo, please take us back to the Dawn. I am sure our company is tired of their journey and I am sure they have many questions for me.” One of the men runs off and hits the intercom. You hear a scramble of activity. Moments later you feel the ship rumble as if it is leaving the atmosphere and you really start to wonder what you had gotten into. You are both standing in the middle of the hangar several feet for the men who all had relaxed a bit and lowered their blasters. Many of them were looking at you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable. Instinctively you got closer to Din and tried to put yourself behind him as if he was protecting you. The man from earlier, Kaiden was licking his lips as he looked at you and you cowered behind Din.

“Din, don’t worry about me.” You whisper to him. “Just worry about getting back to ship. Worry about the kid.”

“We are going to get out of this.” He sounds confident. A lot more confident than you feel.

“I am asking you to promise me that you will make sure he is safe. Do whatever you have to. Promise me.”

He doesn’t reply. And you stand behind him taking his hand trying to calm your nerves. And you hear a loud noise as if this ship is arriving somewhere else. Somewhere larger. 

“Where are they taking us?” you whisper as everyone begins to walk towards the opposite side of the hangar. A few men linger behind, blasters lazily raised in your direction. 

“I am sure you have heard of Crimson Dawn.”

“Oh Din, no. This is bad. I have a history here.”

“I figured as much.” He turns and looks at you. “Whatever you do - do not use your powers. Promise me that.”

You nod and you feel a hand on your waist yank you back into his arms. Kaiden smiles at you. He swings the blaster around with one hand and with the other he shows you a pair of handcuffs.

“These won’t be necessary will they, sweetpea.” He gets closer to you as if he is about to kiss you. You lean back and suddenly he grabs at your glasses. You swat his hand away. He grabs both your hand and twists you around so you are leaning against his chest. He rips your glasses off your face and you snap your eyes shut. 

“I need those to see!” You plead. You didn’t want to sound so desperate. 

“Oh no, looks like you're gonna have to feel your way around here.” Kaiden takes your hand and rubs it across his face. You try and skrim away but he overpowers you and you have to relax a bit into his chest.

Mando tries to react but three men with blasters step in front of him. Another one grabs his arm roughly. 

“No funny business here tough guy. Come let’s go. Unvek needs to talk to you.”

“I don’t go anywhere without her.”

“Yeah, Yeah I figured. Either you go talk to Unvek or - ” he turns and points his blaster straight at you. “I’ll kill your pretty little girlfriend here. So what’ll be?” Mando looks at you as you struggle against Kaiden’s grip. You mouth ‘go’ to him. You can see how conflicted he is, but finally, he relents and starts walking. 

“Aw, that was so sweet.” You hear Kaiden in your ear. “Now let’s try this one last time. I really didn’t want to have to use these till later.” He swings the handcuffs in front of your face. 

You feel the rage bubbling inside. You can feel it pressing on the inside of your head as if all you need to do is open your mouth and it’ll be released. You know you need to focus. You promised Din that you wouldn’t lose control. Not here. It wasn’t lost on you the seriousness of the situation. If this was, in fact, the Crimson Dawn, it was going to take a miracle for them to not figure out who you were. It was going to take some sheer dumb luck for them to have forgotten the only xulkit that had cheated them and escaped from their indenture services. You take a deep breath and focus all your energy on not losing control. You relax into the man’s arms. You decide not to struggle. You decide not to react. You need to remain emotionless. Empty.

“Now that’s better.” Kaiden releases you roughly. He looks you up and down. “I can see why Mando keeps you around.” 

Focus. You close your eyes. No emotion. No reaction. You open your eyes. You just stare at him. No emotion. No reaction. 

“Come on, sweetheart. I think Unvek has a special plan for you.”

It was unmistakably Crimson Dawn. The second the bay doors open you and you saw the inside of the ship your heart sank. It was the same gold plated fortress that you remembered. You are guided to an elevator and taken to one of the servant's levels. You feel yourself start to panic. You had escaped here once, you could do it again. But you know the stakes have changed greatly. 

Kaiden leads to where the entertainers work. He opens the door to reveal women and aliens and even some men dressed in all manner of clothing, most of which is more revealing than anything you are comfortable with. They are all clad in make-up and fine jewels. They examine you as you walk in dressed in dirty robes and a torn-up cloak. You can feel their stares and you see pity in their eyes as you pass. 

“Veasir!” 

A Zeltron dressed in a very low cut dress that left little to the imagination walked out and into the center of the room. She looked you up and down. 

“Boss wants her prepared and brought down to him as soon as possible.”

Without a word, Veasir beckoned you to approach. She looked you in the eye before she grabbed your chin and examined your facial structure. She grabbed your arms and lifted them looking at your chest. She reached down and felt your stomach. You felt incredibly angry and humiliated at the same time as you were just something to be displayed. But you tried to keep your emotions in check. No emotion. No reaction. You tried to erase everything from your mind. 

“Not impossible.” She commented. She clapped her hands and three young-looking alien girls came out and grabbed you by the arms and led you away towards another room. 

“Thirty minutes,” Veasir replies.   
—-♡—-

Mando sat impatiently at the table as Unvek drank and laughed with his fellow mercs. He had told Mando to be patient, he had a surprise on the way. Every few minutes Mando would try and ask him a question but Unvek would simply raise his hand and dismiss him. 

“Come now Mando, where is your sense of fun?” Unvek laughed. “This is a reunion of old friends!”

After close to an hour one of Unvek’s men whispered in his ear. He nodded his head.

“Now Mando, you might wonder why we lured you here.” 

“You could say that.”

“I am sorry about that. I knew you would never come should I ask, not after all that has happened. So I had to send you that message as if we were friends. And I used your contact there on Nevarro. Some of our hunters there told me it was a reliable way to get in touch with you. I know it wasn’t very good of me.”

Mando doesn’t reply but is silently a little grateful that it wasn’t Cara who sent the message after all. 

“Well, it was not for nothing my friend, you see there is something I must ask you to do. Something that only a man of your reputation can handle.”

Mando only sits and waits for him to continue. Unvek might think he was paying him a great compliment but he felt insulted to be treated this way.

“You see there is something very important to me. To this entire organization stored on Mandalore. And it is of the utmost importance that it is retrieved and brought back to us.”

“What? You don’t trust one of your guys to do the job?”

“Of course not! And even if I did, none of them have what you have.” 

“And what is that?”

“You are a real Mandalorian. And you will be able to travel to Mandalore without questions being asked about why you are returning.”

“Why am I returning?” Unvek is about to speak when something catches his eye. 

“Ah, there she is.” Unvek stands up and walks towards a woman in a tight red dress. He takes her hand and starts leading her towards their table. 

It takes a full minute for Mando to realize it is you. Your legs are completely exposed by a high rising slit on either side of the dress that goes all the way up to your hips. Your hair has been combed back straight and shined to perfection. You have a ridiculous amount of dark make-up on around your eyes that brings out the deep, dull grey color. In all your time together he had never seen them that color. 

“I believe this is yours, Mando.” He gives Mando your hand and you look up at him with a pained expression, your eyes flashing a brilliant green. Before returning to the dull grey. 

Mando is speechless as he looks at you. He cannot believe you were being subject to something this humiliating. As he takes your hand you squeezed it incredibly tightly. 

“Now come sit with us. Won’t you. I believe this may involve you as well.” Unvek motions to both of you. 

You know the drill. And you know how this place works. You lead Mando to the table and wait for him to sit. You can tell he is confused since there is no room for you. So you guide him into the small booth. You squeeze his hand as you sit down in his lap with your legs across his. You can feel his body go completely rigid as you place your arm around his neck and lean your head against his helmet. 

Quietly so no one else can hear you whisper, “Play along.”

Unvek is grinning at the two of you. “You see Mando, your friend here will make a fine addition to our organization. Should you fail.”

Mando’s head whips up at this. “What did you say?”

“Well, that’s how this works. If you fail to bring us what we desire, I am afraid your friend will be staying with us for a very long time.” He is grinning at the two of you in a way that makes your stomach churn. 

As if on cue one of the men comes and grabs you by the arm and yanks you out of Din’s grasp. He drags you over to the bar. You see Din try to follow but he is quickly stopped by several others standing guard around Unvek. You wonder what the job is and you pray that he takes it and never comes back. You just want him to escape to keep the child safe. You could handle yourself here. You had done it once before. Maybe when things died down a little you may even be able to attempt another escape. 

The guy doesn’t even try and talk to you; instead, he snakes his arm around your waist. You just stand still as he drinks. You try and not look bored as you stare blankly at the wall behind the bar.

“Oh come on baby, don’t be like that.” He moves to kiss your neck and you duck out of his way just in time. You take a step back from him and he grabs your arms and pulls you back into him. Red, hot anger flashes across his face. 

“I like my guys to buy me a drink first. That’s all.” You quip back at him. He relaxes and turns back to the bar to get the droid’s attention. You can sense that Din has been watching you this entire time. You stand there for another few minutes smiling at the man trying to not look bored by his dull voice as you sip your drink. Then out of the corner of your eye you see, Din gets up and march towards you. He grabs your arm and you start to follow him towards the exit.

“I’m sorry Mando,” Unvek stands up and all of his men point blasters at the two of you. “But where do you think you are going with her.”

“She comes with me.” He states. 

“No, that’s not how this works.” Unvek motions at his men. “She stays here until you return with the quarry. Or you both die.”

You can feel his hand tense around your arm. You can sense that he is trying to calculate his options. You know that he won’t leave you here like this without a fight. So without warning, you throw your arms around him and nuzzle your head into the crock of his neck. 

“Go. Take care of him. Don’t come back to me. Please.” You whisper urgently. You release his neck and smile at him before placing a small kiss where his lips would be. “I can take care of myself, Mando. I don’t need your protection.” 

You whip your hair around and walk away swinging your hips seductively. You walk to Unvek’s side and put your arm around him trying to not be obvious with how much you loathe his touch.

“That settles that then.” Unvek motions for his men to take Mando out of the room. They grab him and half drag him out of the room. You try and send him a reassuring look but know that nothing will work. “Oh and one more thing Mando, I would hurry if I were you. The pretty ones… they don’t last long around here.” He chuckles as he leans down and kisses you on the cheek.

You are completely repulsed. But you hold yourself steady and try to control yourself. To empty all emotion. Din has dragged the rest of the way and you feel as if all hope is taken with him. 

—-♡—-

It’s been close to five days and not a minute has gone by where Din wasn’t thinking of you. He was in a constant state of panic about what they could be doing to you. He knows that you asked him not to return. He knows that your first priority was for the care and safety of the child. But he couldn’t leave you there. Not like that. Not after what he had seen. Not after some of the stories you had told him of your life before he had met you. He couldn’t live with himself if he did. He kept telling himself it was because you were important to his son, and that is why he felt this way. Deep down Din knew that his feelings were much deeper than that, but he refused to let himself think that way. 

Not only was Din worried but the Child was nearly impossible to deal with now. He spent nearly every hour searching the ship like you were just playing a super long game of hide and seek. Din had tried to explain that you were gone, but they were going to get you back. And soon. But the child didn’t understand. He would sit by the door to the cockpit for hours whining and whimpering just waiting for you to return. Worst of all, he wouldn’t fall asleep until he cried himself to sleep. He would sit in his crib looking in every direction letting out tiny cries until he was too tired. It was like he was waiting for you to return and tuck him in. 

Din had successfully found what they had sent him to get. It hadn’t been easy. And he had been a bit reckless in his haste. But he had it stored safely below and was returning to where he knew Crimson Dawn would be waiting. And you. He felt like the ship couldn’t fly fast enough. 

When he saw the massive ship appear on the ship's scanners his heart leapt. He was so close. He hoped you knew that. He hoped you knew he was coming. He hoped you knew that you were going to be okay. He landed and safely tucked the child where he had before. But not before he started to cry loudly grasping at Din’s arms, begging him to continue to hold him. He stroked his ears trying to reassure him that it was going to be okay. He was going to get you. The kid settled down enough for him to replace the panel and he let out a deep sigh.

The ramp opened and he saw Unvek waiting for him at the bottom leaning on his cane with a large grin. 

“Ah, Mando, I knew I could count on you to return.” Mando scanned the group of about a dozen men. You were nowhere to be found. Unvek pointed to the crate at Mando’s side and two of the men ran up to retrieve it. 

Mando descended the ramp to greet Unvek. Mando held his hand out for the men to stop unloading the crate. 

“Where is she?” He demanded.

“Ah, come Mando. Let us celebrate together. This is a glorious day for us.” Unvek tries to slap Mando on the back but he grabs his wrist and twists it. The men raise their blasters towards him. 

“I see you are anxious for your reward.” Mando let’s go of his wrist. Unvek signals two men standing towards the back over. They are both holding a large metal case. The two glide over and present the case to Unvek. Unvek types in a code it opens to reveal credits. More credits than Mando had ever seen. But he pushes it away. 

“What does this have to do with her?”

“Well, as it turns out your friend was worth quite a bit.” Mando feels his heart begin to race.

“What did you do?”

“You didn’t tell us your friend was wanted by both the Imperials and the New Republic.” Mando's hands go to his blaster and before anyone else can react he has it aimed at Unvek straight between the eyes. 

“What did you do with her?” He growls at him.

“I thought surely, a bounty hunter with your reputation would understand. The reward for the girl could pay for our fleet. 10 times over. You must understand.” Unvek looks perplexed by Mando’s rage. 

Mando suddenly snatches Unvek by the collar and jerks him around so the blaster is aimed at his head as he faces his men. He begins to slowly back up towards the ship holding Unvek hostage. 

“Now Mando, let’s not do something we'll regret.” Unvek's voice sounds panicked.

“You’ve already made that choice.” Mando continues up the ramp. When he reaches the top he slams his fist into the button to close the ramp and kicks Unvek hard in the knees. 

“Who has her?” He yells.

“An Imperial Warlord. I don’t know his name.”

Mando can hear the blaster fire start as he hits Unvek hard across the top of the head. He scrambles to climb the ladder to the cockpit. He begins pressing buttons. He can see the hangar bay doors closing so he punches the ship’s hyperdrive in order to escape. Once outside the hangar bay door, he set coordinates for the one place he can think to go and blasts off into hyperspace. 

Once the ship is safely on course, he goes back down into the cabin. Unvek is still unconscious. He grabs him by the neck and drags him to the back of the ship. He forcefully sticks one of Unvek’s legs in garbage vac. He grabs a stimpack and sticks it in Unvek’s arm. Unvek’s eyes open and he looks at Mando in a dazed panic.

“Now, Let’s try this again. Where is she?”

“An ex-Imperial warlord. His name - He never said.” Unvek tries to scramble to get his leg out of its position but Mando steps heavily on his leg and there is a horrifying crack. Unvek screams. “His name was something like Giblin. No, I-”

“Moff Gideon?” Mando demands. 

“Yes. That’s it. Moff Gideon. Willing to pay the largest bounty I have ever seen for her. Never said why. Now please, Mando, my leg.” 

Without another thought, Mando presses the button and Unvek’s body starts being sucked through the small hole out into space. He begins to scream because the vac is too powered and it starts to suck him further down. He tries to claw his way out. Reaching for Mando, pleading for him to help as blood begins to gush out of his mouth. Mando can hear cracking his bones as they are sucking into the compact space. Finally, his body slumps forward and movement stops and slowly he watches as the rest of him disappears out the shoot and into the void of space. 

Din is silent for a moment. He stands trying to not let himself become flooded with emotion. He rips off his helmet and tries to control his breathing. Then he hears the tiny cries coming from the floor. He walks over and opens the panel grabbing the child and holding him for a minute until he can calm down. The child reaches up and touches his forehead softly and lets out a whimper and Din knows that he can sense what is happening. 

“Don’t worry. I have a plan. We’re going to get her back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s a cliffhanger, sorry! The next three chapters are WORTH THE PAIN, I swear. Promise the next part will be up by Friday.


	7. vii - the extraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando recruits some old and new friends to aid in getting you back.

The ship makes its approach to the outskirts of a familiar city. Mando decides it is too risky to take the child with him given the current situation. He set him lightly on the cot.

“I am going to be right back. I need to talk to someone important. You. Stay here.”

The child looks up at him with a confused and desperate plea. He reaches for him begging to be picked up. Before Mando can rethink his plan he lowers the ramp and marches towards the city. He doesn’t notice any of the stares in his direction as he makes his way to the cantina. His focus is on one thing - getting you back as quickly as possible.

When he walks into the cantina he scans the room looking for her. But his eyes land on Greef instead, who stands and raises his arm in welcome. 

“Mando, it is so good to see you have returned to us here. Please come sit.” Greef motions at the table as he begins to sit down to enjoy his drink. 

“I need to speak with Cara. Now.” 

“Ah, I believe she's busy at the moment. Come have a drink. She will be back shortly.”

Mando just turns his head and stares directly at Greef without saying a word. Mando can see him grow uncomfortable under his intense stare. 

“Or I could hail her now.”

Mando just looks at him and he reaches for his communicator. He whispers something into the commlink while trying not to look at Mando. After a few seconds of silence, he hears a reply. 

“Well, she is on her way.” Greef smile. “Now sit. Am I allowed to know what this is about?”

“No,” Mando replies. And the two sit in uncomfortable silence until the door opens and Mando turns and sees Cara walking in followed by a rather rough-looking man, with large scars littered across his face and tattoos decorating both arms. And to Mando’s surprise, an HK droid with a pulse rifle follows. They make their way across the room and Mando notices that no one in the cantina looks up in their direction. 

Mando stands and extends his hand to Cara who takes it in a rough handshake. 

“I see our paths cross again, Mando.” 

“I need your help,” Mando says. Cara signals for the man behind to sit down. And they both join Mando and an annoyed looking Greef at the table as the HK droid stands to the side. 

“This is Wrex. Best bounty hunter I’ve worked with.” Cara makes sure to give a smile in Mando’s direction as she says this. Wrex extends his hand but Mando doesn’t take it. 

“I need to speak with Cara. Alone.”

“Listen, we are sort of a team around here now. So whatever trouble you’re in we are both going to be helping you this time,” Cara says. Mando is annoyed by this, but the thought of you in another Imperial prison at the hands of Mof Gideon makes him decide he has no other choice but to trust Cara’s judgment. 

Mando dives in and explains what happened. He tells them that you had made progress on helping teach the child how to use his abilities and that the child had grown very attached to you. Greef is flabbergasted to hear that there is another that possesses the same powers as the child. Mando explains that you had used your gifts to do even more impressive things than what they had seen the child do. When he tells them that they went to search the planet Korriban, Wrex interjects.

“Korriban, the desert planet out here on the outer rim?”

“Yes.” 

Wrex lets out a dejected breath. But doesn’t add anything anymore so Mando continues to explain what happened between him and Crimson Dawn. How they had doubled crossed him and sold you to the Imps. How he had been able to figure out that it was Mof Gideon and he was going after you. 

“Well, shit, Mando. You killed one of the top leaders of Crimson Dawn. And now you want to track down Gideon and do what exactly?” Greef sounded as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yes. And I need your help.” He nods towards Cara. She is looking at Wrex silently. Both of them turn to Mando nodding in agreement. 

“Okay, we’re in. Only because your girlfriend doesn’t deserve to die at the hands of some Imperial scum.” Wrex says as he stands. Cara smiles when Mando doesn’t reply to his comment. 

“We’ll get her back. Don’t worry.” Cara looks at him reassuringly for a long moment.“We need a plan. Do you know where they are holding her?”

“No.”

“Well maybe HK can help us with that,” Wrex says. Mando turns and looks at Wrex, perplexed. He hadn’t agreed to let the droid join the mission. 

“Hello, I am HK-77. I am at your service, Mandalorian.” The droid stands in front of Mando and extends his metal hand. “In order to locate your friend, I would have to search the current Imperial database for prison records. These are located within a secure system. We will need to find a way to get access to one of these databases. From there I will be able to locate the current location of any prisoner.” Mando turned his head away, hating the word, hating more the image of you in prison.

“Are there any Imperial Loyalists within the guild?” Wrex asks Greef. 

“Hell if I know. I may have some contacts that I can try. But I can make no guarantees.”

“It seems we will need to be making a stop at one of those Imperial hold outs, we’ve been itches to see.” Cara stands. “Where can we cause the most damage, HK?” 

“Hold on, I didn’t say - ” Mando raises his hand to protest.

“Save it, Mando. HK is coming. We need him and you’re wasting our time. Now let’s go get your girlfriend back.” Cara stands to depart. “Meet you on the ship in 30.”

Mando stands to follow. Wrex extends his hand towards Mando. “I’ve heard many tales of the Mandalorians. It’ll be an honor to be fighting beside one. Especially to kick some Imperial ass.” He lets out a loud laugh before following Cara out of the Cantina.

“You better start making those calls.” Mando doesn’t look at Greef as he turns to depart.

—-♡—-

“I would recommend a hasty retreat, Master Wrex.” Mando hears HK state as blaster fire erupts on all sides.

“I’ll cover you three! Go!” Wrex yells as he dodges out from behind his cover. Mando and Cara turn and make a run towards the Imperial ship. 

“HK, are you sure you can fly this thing?!” Cara yells over the blaster fire as Mando and her duck behind cover. 

“This particular make and model of ship should be within my range of ability. There is currently a 92% chance for a successful take-off.” HK is casually running backward while shooting his rifle at the guards.

“I guess we’ll have to take those odds,” Mando remarks. There is a loud explosion and the two of you see Wrex running at full speed towards you waving his hands for them to run. They jump up and make the final dash towards the ship. Once onboard HK makes his way to the cockpit where he plugs himself in and the ship roars to life. Wrex and Cara continue to shoot out the back of the ship. 

“We should really get going!” Wrex yells. 

“Finishing the final calculation of our ascend. Please hold on.” HK turns his metal hand and the ship makes a sudden jolt to the side. “I am sorry. This ship is very old. We may want to consider a newer model.” Mando points a blaster at him. 

“Just go!”

“Yes, sir.” The ship starts making its way into the sky. And Mando can see the Imps becoming small dots as the ship climbs in altitude. “For your sake Mandalorian, I would advise you to remove that blaster from my vicinity.” Mando holsters his blaster.

“How long till we reach the ship?” Cara asks.

“I estimate 3.47 hours until our arrival at the Star Destroyer Harbinger” HK responds.

“I guess it’s best to rest now. We are going to need it if this plan is going to work.” Wrex almost laughs as he says this. 

Mando knew this plan was insane. It was impossibly stupid and he hoped that is what would make it work. He didn’t think they would expect a group of bounty hunters, two of which were ex-rebel fighters, to steal a very old imperial ship, fly to the head of operation and try to sneak on board. And hopefully, from there they would be able to rescue you. 

As it turned out one of Greef old contacts knew where you were being held. You were a very high-value asset and had been sent to the most secure location - an old Imperial Star Destroyer that served as the main base for all current Imperial operations. Your top secret presence on the ship had been the talk of all the commanders on that ship, so naturally, all of the cartel overlords knew where you were. 

The team had agreed as they left Nevarro that it was too dangerous to take the kid behind enemy lines. But Mando didn’t trust just anyone to watch him. He didn’t know of anyone he could just leave the kid with where he knew he would be completely safe. But after some discussion, Mando decided to leave him in the only place he knew he could trust. 

They made a stop on Sorgan. He had explained to Omera that you had been taken and he was going to get you, but that he couldn’t risk both you and the child’s safety. Omera looked at him with soft eyes and told him she would protect the child with her life.

“Thank you, Omera. I owe you a debt I will never be able to repay.” Mando handed the child over to her. He reached down and stroked his ear for a moment. The child reached up and grabbed towards him. He leaned down and the child's hands touched his helmet. Then there is a flash and he sees you as clear as day. You are smiling up at him laughing. He pulls away. He realizes that the child is asking about you. He wants to see you as badly as he does. “Yes, I am going to get her. I promise.” He looks back at Omera. “If I don’t make it-”

“Don’t.” She says. “We will be waiting for you when you return. Hurry, she needs you.” He decides that is enough and turns to go. 

The hard part was figuring out how they were going to rescue you from such a secure Imperial location. There was a lot of discussion about how to sneak onboard. But finally, it was decided the simplest way - flying straight on board and kicking down the door - was the best way. Thanks to Greef’s contact they had managed to trace down an old junkyard on Jakku where there would be a working Imperial cargo ship. However, it turned out that the junkyard was a front for a secret Imperial base and they were ambushed on the way out. They had just barely escaped and now they were flying towards the Star Destroyer thanks to HK’s navigational help.

Mando just stood behind HK staring straight ahead. In the past week, since he had left you with Crimson Dawn, he had hardly slept. As he stood his mind was on the sole thought of getting you back and then making sure he never left your side again. 

“You need to rest.” Cara was standing next to him. “You’re no good to her dead.” 

“I am resting,” Mando replies cooly without turning his head.

“I’m sure if she were here, she’d tell you to sit down.” Care turns and faces Mando directly, placing one hand on his shoulder. “Din, she’s too valuable to harm. She’s going to be fine. Go rest.”

Mando turned, surprised. Cara had hardly ever used his real name. Mostly out of respect for his culture because she didn’t feel it was appropriate. He could tell that she cared a lot about the outcome of this rescue mission too, and that meant a lot to him. He moved to go sit down towards the back of the ship. Wrex nodded in his direction as he passed. 

Wrex it turns out hated the Empire more than anyone Mando had ever met. Even the mention of something the Empire did was enough to send Wrex into a rage. Wrex was also a fantastic bounty hunter, Cara had not been lying. He could take out a group of guards with his bare hands and he enjoyed it too. What was more interesting was Wrex’s belief in the child and in you. He had fought with the rebellion. Wrex heard stories from other soldiers about some of the things that had taken place when the Empire fell. Things that weren’t to be believed. Wrex was convinced that you and the child were part of some greater plan to restore peace to the galaxy. He told Mando that he wouldn’t stand to see the Imperials get their hands on that kind of power. 

Mando sat down and leaned back. He shut his eyes. All he saw was you. Smiling up at him with your bright pink eyes. You laughing by the firelight. You in that bright red dress on the Crimson Dawn, you kissing him on the helmet before he left. The look of sheer terror in your eyes as they dragged him away. You screaming as they carried you away towards a group of stormtroopers. You shrieking his name as they threw you in a small cell as Mof Gideon stood over you.

He jumped awake.

“Hey, we’re almost there.” Cara looks down at Mando. He nods at her. He must’ve dozed off and tries to shake off these feelings. After all it was just a dream. He stands and walks up to the front of the ship. 

“Okay let’s go over the plan again,” Mando says.

“We land. We wait for them to come to us. We kill ‘em. HK plugs in and finds her. We go get her. Kill as many Imps as possible along the way.” Wrex says this in the most straightforward voice possible.

“Right, and if we can’t-”

Wrex holds up his hand. “I don’t like to think in hypotheticals.” 

“Well, we need - “ Mando starts. But Wrex holds up his hand. 

“Don’t worry, Tin-Can. We'll have your girl back in time for supper.” 

Mando lets out a long sigh. 

“We will be dropping out of hyperspace in 3 - 2 - 1.” HK says this as the ship's jolts out of hyperspace just in front of them is the Star Destroyer.

“Any chance we can take this thing out while we are on there?” Wrex asks.

“Let’s focus on one thing at a time.” Cara gazes out the window. “I forgot how much I hate these things.” She mutters. 

“This is Star Destroyer Harbinger. Please state your transponder code and purpose.” A voice comes on the over the intercom. 

“Time to find out if Greef is as good as he says he is.” Cara looks nervously up at Mando.

“This is JS-09-24 here for delivery 030717.” HK answers. The other line remains silent for several long moments as the ship glides closer.

“I’m sorry, JS. Did you say 030817? It seems you brought 030717 yesterday.”

The four you exchanged shrug between before HK replies. “Uh, yes. This is JS-09-24 with delivery 030817 requesting access to the hangar bay.” 

After another moment of silence, the voice returns. “You are clear for landing. Hangar bay 31.” 

Wrex lets out a breath. “Okay,” he grabs his blaster and rifle. And straps several grenades to his belt. “Now comes the fun part.”

The three of them flank the ramp as HK goes to land the ship. Mando feels the ship thump to the ground beneath them. 

“I would like to remind you, that the chances of successfully retrieving The Mandalorian girlfri-” HK starts to say. 

“Yeah, yeah we know. Now get ready to start blasting our way out.” Cara hunkers down behind a large crate. 

“We should try and be as stealthy as possible for as long as we can hold out,” Mando says. “Save the big stuff for later.” Wrex and Cara nod. The ramp begins to lower itself and Mando can hear two voices on the other side. 

“Anyways man, like I was saying I think he might be into-” There are two shots from a blaster and the stormtroopers fall down at the top of the ramp. 

Mando, Cara, and Wrex turn and see HK holding his blaster rifle still smoking towards the dead men. 

“These targets were a threat to the safety of our mission.” 

“Too late now to do anything about that. Let’s go.” Wrex leads the way as the four try to sneak off the ship without detection. The blaster fire drew the attention of several others standing around but they were just out of the line of sight of the ramp so that they could sneak behind some large crates before they were spotted.

“HK, I swear, if you fire that blaster - “ Wrex spits in his direction as HK scans the crowd gathering around the ship

“They do not currently threaten the safety of our mission. Therefore, they will remain unharmed.” HK replies. “For now.” 

The four of them crawled around the outer wall of the hangar bay until they reached a computer terminal. 

“Get going.” Mando points at the terminal. It turns out that the blaster fire had provided an excellent distraction. The entire crew of the hangar was now gathered outside the ship looking confused. Mando, Cara, and Wrex remain hunkered behind the crates as HK plugged into the computer and began to search through the database. 

“I have charted the most plausible course of action from here,” HK informs them. 

“Great, let’s go.” 

“We will need to go through the door up to the right.” HK unplugs his arm. “Please follow me very closely.” 

The three follow behind HK as he leads the way. The next several minutes were spent ducking and hiding behind every corner with HK sealing the doors behind them as they went. They were able to avoid detection until they turned the corner and a group of stormtroopers was glaring back at them. Before anyone else could react HK raised his blaster and shot them. They all quickly crumpled to the ground in a smoky haze. 

“We will need to speed up our approach.” HK states and starts to run down the hall blasters raised. Within a minute Mando sees the lights turn red and an alarm starts blaring. “It seems we have been detected. Please follow me on this alternative route.” HK states making a quick turn and they follow. As they continue to sneak their way through it seems that more and more stormtroopers appear around every corner. 

“Please tell me we're getting close,” Mando says as he jumps over a group of bodies they had just shot down.

“It is just ahead and through these doors.” HK stops outside the door and begins to try and open the door. A large group of troopers begins shooting in their direction. The door rushes open and they step inside. When they turn around there are two confused looking guards staring at them. Wrex runs at them and throws one of them up in the air and grabs the other by the neck and twists it as it cracks. Then he aims his blaster and shoots the man that had landed at his feet in the chest. HK immediately plugs into the computer terminal.

“It seems we have made it to the prison block. I will secure these blast doors to hold off the incoming forces. And I will open her cell. It is cell 1017.” 

Mando doesn’t need to be told twice. He turns and rushes down the hall scanning each door for your number. Finally, he sees it and rushes towards it and bangs on the heavy metal door. 

“HK, OPEN THIS!” He hits it again, harder this time. 

“Excuse me, there seems to be an extra layer of security. It will take a minute to decrypt. Currently calculating.” Mando bangs much harder on the door with the end of his rifle. “Your weapons are useless against this door Mandalorian and may cause substantial damage to your weapon. I am working on it. Please hold.” 

Cara arrives at Mando’s side and looks in through the tiny window just to the left of the door. 

“Oh my…” Cara’s voice trails off as she looks through the window. Mando cannot stand the tone she used and goes to look. “No, - it’s - don’t look.” She stands up and tries to block him from looking. “Let me get her, okay?” He ignores her and looks in. Din feels a heaviness in his soul when he sees you. 

You are chained to the back wall with your arms hanging above your head. There is a blinding spotlight focused right on the entirety of your face. You look much smaller than you had before. Your checks are completely sunk in as your head hangs low towards your chest. Your wrists and ankles are bloody around the cuffs that hold you. He can see how bruised your arms are, even from here. Next to you there is a table with a droid carefully laying out syringes. He notices that the droid is disposing of several empty ones. He recognizes the liquid. They have been injecting you with a hallucinogen and possibly even something else.

Mando raises his fist and starts to bang hard against the window. You don’t even flinch at the noise.

“HK OPEN THIS DOOR!” Mando hollers down the hall.

“One more layer to do, and -” and the door springs open and Din is to your side before it finishes opening. 

“Y/N, hey Y/N.” He grabs you and tries to gently shake you awake. Cara shoots the surprised droid and rushes over the computer and presses a button. The ankle cuffs and handcuffs release and you collapse into Din’s arms. 

As soon as you feel the cold metal against your skin you flinch away. You have no feeling in your arms but you try and push back. You try and will your legs to move you away. You fight with everything you have and you feel yourself collapse on the cold floor and curl into a ball. 

“Please, just kill me. I won’t help you. Please.” You whimper the words out and try to pull further into yourself. You feel a soft touch on your cheek and you hear a voice that you didn’t think could possibly be real. 

“Y/N, it’s me. I’m here. To save you.” You open your eyes and look up but your eyes can’t seem to focus after all this time in the light. But you see the shine on his armor. And you know that you are hallucinating again. Because this can’t be real. He wasn’t coming back. 

“Here, I got you now.” You feel yourself leave the ground and you scream and arch your back. And try and struggle as much as your body will allow. The person holding you is surprised and drops you and you land you on your side. You feel a splitting pain in your chest. But you try and stand, you try to make a run for it. You feel a hand make its way around your waist. “Y/N, it’s me. It’s Din. I got you now. They aren’t going to hurt you.” 

You can hear his voice so clearly that for a second you want to give in and let yourself hallucinate this. You want to be with him. So you relax into his touch as he takes your hand. He looks the same as you remember him. You had thought about him almost non-stop since you’d been here. And every dream, every nightmare, every hallucination included him. You bring his hand to your check and you lean into his touch.

“I wish you were real. I wish this were real.” You whisper softly. You smile and close your eyes. “I wish I told you.” 

“I am here. I’m here with you.” You open your eyes and look around the room. This dream was different. It felt so vividly real. Cara was there and she was staring at you with a pitiful look. There was a man you didn’t know standing guard by the door. This one was more elaborate. Your mind was starting to get more creative with its fantasies. No, you told yourself, you were still in that prison cell. This was just another trick. And you couldn’t let your mind let you believe any differently. 

You reach out and touch his helmet and run your hand along the outline t-shape. It is cool against your touch and lean forward and rest your whole aching body against his. You feel his arms reach around you and pull you closer and press you tightly against him. You couldn’t believe how real this felt. You start to feel your legs give out and he catches you in his strong arms and so you just close your eyes and wait for the dream to end.

“I am sorry to interrupt but we have 2.67 minutes until the prison door is breached. I recommend we make our way to the alternative exit.”

Your eyes rush open. This was new. You lean around Din. A droid. An HK unit. Here. With Din. And that is when you know that you have completely lost your mind. 

“Din, you’re going to have to carry her. I don’t think she can walk.” Cara looked and sounded so real. She heavied a gun over her shoulder. “We will cover you.” 

“I’m taking you with me. Come on.” Din reached down and picked you up carrying you with both his arms. At this point, you are just trying to enjoy how beautiful this dream is and how very real it all felt. You lay heavy in his arms. You tuck your head and place it in the crock of his neck. You start to giggle. 

“Y/N, if you give up now, pal, I am going to have to kick your ass.” 

This makes you look up at him. You had said that to him. Those exact words. Back on Sorgan. Somehow they had learned to use your own memories against you. 

“Please, I don’t want to wake up if this isn’t real, Din.” You hear a loud bang behind you. And you hear blaster fire. You close your eyes and just try and focus on how strong his arms feel. You can feel him jump and sway. You can feel him running and crouching. You can hear the distant sound of blaster fire and voices yelling at one another. But you just want to keep your eyes close and pretend this is real, so this can be your last memory of him.

“Y/N, look at me. Please look.” You can feel your shoulder being shaken. You blink your eyes open reluctantly. “We need to get rid of the guard around the ship. I have to help. I’m leaving you here. But I am coming back for you. I swear.” He leans down and presses his forehead to yours. “I’m coming back for you.”

You don’t say anything, just look at him with the faintest of smiles. You knew this was too good to be real. He reluctantly gets up and joins the others to clear a path. You turn your head and watch him as they begin to shoot towards the rather large group of troopers. 

“I’m not going to help you. Not now. Not ever. You’ll have to kill me.” You scream as you try to stand. “Did you hear me?! YOU’LL HAVE TO KILL ME!!” You throw your head back and scream it as loud as you. You turn from side to side but you don’t see anything about your surroundings change. You swing around and see Din turning and come running back over towards you. You let out a terrified scream and send your hand out so that he goes flying back to the others. 

You see two of the elite black guards running towards you. You finally feel some relief. You close your eyes and wait for it to end. 

“Y/N. Run.” 

It’s that same voice again. The woman. The one from your dreams. Without warning your hand flys up in front of your face and you can feel yourself holding the guards back. Your eyes open and you feel yourself using everything left in you to hold them from getting any closer. You don’t know what is causing you to do this, it feels like someone else is controlling your body. You feel confusion and anger start to erupt within and you no longer care what happens. 

You scream as you try and hold the two guards back. But they are pushing against your hold. They are somehow getting closer to you, taking small struggling steps towards you. You need to push them back but you are completely exhausted. You close your eyes. 

“Be here.” You whisper. You open your eyes and begin to push forward with everything you have. It hurts and you start to scream an ear-piercing, heart-shattering scream. But you can feel a massive wave of The Force leave your fingertips and you see everything around you go flying back. Crates, boxes, and containers start to fly and tumble over. You see lights start to pop into small explosions as the wave rolls over them. The flooring ripples up as the wave sweeps everything around it and sends it flying. The troopers go flying backward hitting the hangar wall hard.

You use the last bit of energy so you can turn towards Din. You see him trying to stand back up after being thrown back several meters. You see him stumbling to make his way towards you before everything goes black.

—-♡—-

“You saw what she did back there - half dead. Imagine what she can do when she’s normal. If the Empire got its hands on that kind of raw power - “ 

“We don’t even know what it is - “

“She practically destroyed that entire hanger and everyone in it! She needs to be taken somewhere where she can never be found again. Better yet -” 

“Don’t finish that sentence.” You hear his voice. His voice. He is there. You can hardly believe it. You don’t want to open your eyes in case it is all just another dream. You pray with everything you have that he will be there when you open your eyes. 

But your body hurts. It aches so deeply that every breath is a struggle. You feel like you have been hit by a speeder. By an entire starship. You try to move your arm. It feels like you are lifting a thousand pounds. You try to move again but you barely get an inch before you feel the cool leather touch as it takes a hold of your hand. 

“Hey, hey, easy.” You slowly blink your eyes open and you see a black t-shape staring back at you. You instantly feel tears well up in your eyes. 

“Din, is this real?” You start to sob. You lose control. You feel his leathered glove stroke the side of your check. 

“Yes.” His one-word reply is all you need to know that he really is here. You are sobbing so hard that your entire body starts to shake. Suddenly all you want is to be as close as possible to him. You want to know that he is there. You feel him take you into his arms. And you clammer to put your arms around his neck. You have completely come undone as you sob against his chest. You lay there for as long as you can, you feel him softly rubbing the sides of your arms and your back. You just lay there never wanting him to leave. After a long while, you begin to feel yourself drift off from exhaustion in his arms. 

“We’re almost there.” You hear a woman’s voice say. “Will she be okay?” 

“I don’t know.” You hear him reply. You want to tell him that he is here. And that you will be okay as long as he stays here. But your body is too heavy and so you lay still until sleep pulls you under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters! (if someone names the lil’ easter eggs we are best friends, I don’t make the rules.) I know this chapter was a little shorter, it’s because the next one is an absolute behemoth of goodness. And it is by far my favorite thing I’ve written. After all this pain I may have decided to torture ya’ll to death with fluff. It’ll be posted next Tuesday! (5/19)


	8. viii - the reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorian helps you recover from your experiences at the hands of the Imperials as you both continue to search for answers about your abilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted early because I was too damn excited. Hardcore KOTOR references in the chapters ahead (spoilers for the game, I guess?!?)

All you can see is that you are standing over piles of bodies. Your eyes have gone completely black. You hold a red lightsaber up in one hand and in the other, you hold the Mandalorians helmet. His body falls down at your feet. And you see a black liquid start to pour from your mouth and you feel as if you are drowning. 

You scream and feel yourself jump up on shaky legs as you trip over something and fall forward on your hands. You hear a grunt and the shuffling of a body.

“Y/N?” It’s Din’s voice but it sounds wrong. It sounds too human.

You sit there shaking for a minute, not answering. It’s pitch black. Except for a small shine of light right in front of you on the floor. You feel the metal beneath your hands and you register that you must still be on the ship. You blink your eyes, even with your exceptional vision your eyes can’t seem to adjust. You turn to look behind you and can only see a slight silhouette. An outline of the man. And jerk you head back to stare at the ground. 

“Y/N?” He asks again.

“Your helmet. It’s off,” is all you can manage before you fall forward and completely curl into yourself. You begin to shake, trying your best to hold in the sobs. You feel a presence above you and realize that Din is hovering above you. Helmetless. 

“I - I can’t see you.” He says. You feel his hand feeling around trying to find you. He traces up the side of your body and into your hair before resting his fingers on your cheek. He had removed his gloves and you feel his calloused fingertips trying to wipe away the tears. Without thinking you reach up and stroke his cheek in return. 

When he doesn’t stop you, you run your fingers over his eyelids and down his nose. You run your finger over his lips to his neck, to the back of his neck and through his hair. Din doesn’t move a muscle as you move your hand across his face and through his hair several times silently trying to picture him. But he feels you start to pull away as you try to move out from under him. 

“Sorry.” You mutter. “I didn't mean to - “

“Don’t stop,” he says and you gradually turn back towards him. All you can see is a rough outline and you try to picture his features. You try and focus on what he must look like, right there in front of you. He takes you in his arms and turns you so you are facing him as you lay on your side. You rest your head on the top of one of his arms as he places the other on your waist. You bring your hand to his face and begin to trace his features. 

“Is this real?” You ask after a few moments of silence. 

“Yes.” Din replies. 

“You came back for me.” You state.

“Yes,” Din says again.

“I told you not to.”

“I know.” He answers. “But I couldn’t leave you….with them.”

“Why?” You ask as you trace the outline of his eyebrows. 

“Because I couldn’t leave you behind. You are too important.”

You can feel him leaning into your touch. “Too important to who?”

“The kid.” He says. Then after a pause adds, “and me.”

“Is he safe?” You ask as you run a finger along his sharp jawline and feel the stubble there and wonder when he has time to shave. You move your hand down his neck and then to his collarbone and under his loose-fitting shirt. You feel a scar along his chest bone and you run your finger along the scar and begin to draw tiny circles on top of the slightly raised skin. 

“Yes.” 

There is a long silence between the two of you, both lost in your own thoughts. You continue to run your fingers up and down his neck. 

“Is this allowed?” You ask as you tap his nose with your finger.

“Can you see my face?” He asks, slightly amused.

“No.” 

He doesn’t say anything back. You take his silence as an answer as you continue to run your fingers along his sharp nose and along to his forehead and into his hair. 

“What color is this?” You ask as you playfully tug a piece of hair on his scalp. 

“Brown.” 

You don’t say anything in return. Instead, you bring yourself closer into his chest. And nuzzle your head into his neck. You can feel him stiffen at your closeness. But after a moment he relaxes into your touch and brings both his arms around you to pull you closer. You close your eyes and breathe in his scent. You begin to feel sleep overcome you again. But not before more hellish images flash through your mind and you feel yourself shudder. You can feel Din wrap his arms around you protectively.

“I'm going to kill him.” You murmur into his neck.

“Who?” 

“Mof Gideon. I’m going to make him suffer.” There is something in the way that you say this that makes Din shudder. You sound so cold, so unlike yourself. 

“Sleep. ” He whispers into your hair.

“But - but you’ll stay. You’ll stay with me?” You stammer sleepily in the dark.

“Always.”

######  **—-♡—-**

When you awake your body still _aches._ But as you open your eyes you feel an immense sense of comfort because you know that you are safe. You can sense it. So when you look around the small space that you recognize as the ship's sleeping quarters and don’t see Din, you don’t immediately panic. Instead, you slowly rise, rubbing your ankles and wrists which had been bandaged at some point, and sluggishly make your way out of the bed. You can see the ship is empty and the ramp is lowered revealing a glaring light outside. 

You peek your head out into the bright sunlight. It is blinding. You quickly turn back in and search for your glasses. But then you remember that they had been taken back on Crimson Dawn and destroyed. So you peek back out and you hear a tiny voice down below. 

“She’s awake. Go! Go get him!”

You look down and see one of the little village girls, Lyerra, from Sorgan looking up at you brightly from the bottom of the ramp. 

“Hello, Miss Y/N. It’s lovely to see you again. I am supposed to tell you to wait right there. Mando is coming to get you.” Lyerra walks up the ramp and peeks into the ship very curiously. “He told us not to go on the ship no matter what. Because you were asleep. But you are awake now!” She continues to look around the ship in wonder. “I’ve never been on a starship before.”

Your eyes are still adjusting and your body aches. You feel a great tiredness within and so you only smile at Lyerra and sit back down on the back wall of the ship. She notices the grimace as you sit down. 

“Omera said some bad men took you.” You look at her. And you see her eyes widen as she is just now seeing your eyes shift color. “Miss Y/N your glasses! Should I find them for you?” 

“No Lyerra, I don’t have them with me. Thank you, though.” Even to yourself, you sound exhausted. You continue to rub your bandaged wrists nervously. A panicky feeling starting to take over, one you feel you can’t control. And you feel afraid of what might happen if you can’t settle down. Lyerra notices you twitching and walks over and plops down next to you before taking one of your hands in her own and patting it gently. She looks up and smiles at you gently. 

“He sure did miss you while you were gone.” It’s all she says and you sit for a minute in silence. Until you hear the familiar metallic clicking coming towards the ship. You look up and see Din marching up the ramp. Lyerra jumps down and retreats out of the ship. Din pays her no mind before he is kneeling down in front of you and taking your face in his hands and examining it.

“How are you feeling?” he asks as he looks at the bruising around your jaw and neck. He moves his hands down your arms where there are huge welts and burns. On your left arm, there is a massive bruise from where they had injected you with the hallucinogen. “What did they do to you in there?” 

You bring your hands up and place them on his shoulder. “Din, my dearest, I would rather not discuss what happened…. If that’s alright with you.” He runs his fingers over the bruise on your arm and you flinch. “Not yet, at least.”

He looks back up to your eyes and you lean down and rest your forehead on the cool metal forehead of his helmet. The two of you just sit for a moment as you close your eyes and take a deep breath trying to calm your emotions. Din gently takes your face in his hands and rubs his gloved fingers on your cheeks as you feel a few tears falling. 

You hear the pattering of feet and hushed voices from outside. Din breaks away from you. He stands and softly helps you to your feet. 

“I think there is someone who might want to see you just as much as me.” He whispers. 

You look at him with a massive grin and rush to the ramp of the ship. As you look out not far away there is a brigade of children leading one very small green creature. You can’t contain your excitement and leap down and run to close the distance. The children all erupt in cheers as you pick him up and spin him around. The child squeals in delight as you pull him in a tight hug. You can’t contain the tears of joy you feel and they start to spill over. You pull him back and hold him to just look in his eyes. He reaches out to touch your forehead. You lovingly lean into his touch. For a moment you can tell he is searching your memories to see where you have been. You want to block them, you don’t want him to see what happened to you. But you don’t have the strength to hold them back. You pull your head back and look at him. His ears droop and he looks at you with the saddest eyes.

“It is alright, little friend. I am here with you now.” You whisper at him. You bring him in for another hug. “I will never leave you again. I promise.” 

You feel Din’s hand on your shoulder. You reach up and squeeze it tightly. And you feel okay. You feel like you are home.

One of the children jumps up in the air with their hand raised.

“Miss. Miss! MISS! We made food for you. It’s waiting.” The children all nod in agreement. 

“Lead the way.” You start to follow the children back to the village. You put the child down and start to chase him and he giggles in delight. There is a warmness in your heart as you look back at Din, a gratefulness that feels unimaginable. It feels impossible that you could feel this much. That you could feel this full of...love. 

#####  **—-♡—-**

“You're sure you can’t come with us.” Mando is standing at the bottom of the ramp to the stolen Imperial ship.

“I think we may be getting into a little trouble you shouldn’t be a part of. Especially with your family to look after.” Wrex nods his head in your direction as you hold the child and you grin back at his choice of words.

“This old Imperial ship is going to help us do a lot of good to these Imps. Thanks,” Cara turns and extends her hand towards you, “in large part to you.”

You take her hand. “I think I owe you my life. Twice. Thank you, Cara.”

She smiles at you, “I put it on his tab.” She turned and put her arm up to say goodbye to Mando. “Until our paths cross again, Mando.”

“Until then.” He takes her hand and grasps it firmly. He lets go and she reaches down and strokes the child’s ears affectionately. Then turns and boards the ship.

Wrex looks between the both of you for a minute. He awkwardly approaches you beckoning to his HK unit. He looks directly at you. “I know that you are important, I don’t know how I know it, but I do. What you did, what you can do…..well the galaxy needs a fighter like you.” He motions HK-77 forward. “HK is the best droid around. He can provide the best protection this side of the galaxy. He will be better in your service.”

HK raises his arms and bows towards you. “I am at your service, new Master.”

“No,” Din says and waves the approaching droid off. 

“Wrex, I can’t accept this. He is your droid. You need him.” You look at Wrex confused. This was by far the nicest thing anyone had ever gifted you. 

“Besides, I don’t know how we can trust it.” Din comments.

“He saved your life didn’t he?” Wrex laughs. “Besides it’s for Y/N. Not you.” He looks pointedly at Mando. “Y/N, I believe that whatever it is you are searching for is important in rebuilding the galaxy. During the war, I saw things. Terrible things. Things that can never happen again. And I think you can make sure that they never do.” He is looking straight into your eyes. You can feel an overwhelming sense of hope radiating off him. “And this little guy of course.” He reaches down and pinches his nose and the child grabbles up at him.

“Thank you, Wrex. You do me a great honor.” You smile at him and take his hand. He shakes it and places his other on top of yours. 

“It was a great honor to fight alongside a Jedi.” Your eyes flash a very light reddish-orange and you have to look away. He turns to Mando. “It was an honor to fight along a Mandalorian as well. Though you could use some work with the blaster.” Wrex lets out a loud laugh as he slaps Mando on the shoulder. He then turns and extends his hand. “I trust you can take care of your family. You know they are the most important creatures in the galaxy?”

Mando gives a deep nod and takes his hand. “Until we meet again, Wrex.” 

“Or until you need us to bail your ass out again,” he turns laughing and walks towards the ship. He walks up the ramp and gives you one last salute before he closes the door. The four of you stand and watch as the ship takes off and leaves, hopefully on its way to cause some trouble for the Imperials. 

You turn to make your way back to the Razor Crest. HK-77 starts to follow you. Mando turns and points his blaster at it. HK automatically steps in front of you and points its blaster at Din. 

“Hey! Get away from her!” Din barks.

“My protocol is to protect Y/N and the child at all costs. Currently, you are a threat to their safety. Please lower your weapon.” Mando looks between you and the droid. You have a fascinated look on your face. You had never had a droid protect you before. Your mind starts to spin at this newly formed relationship.

“Y/N, you aren’t actually considering keeping it.” 

“I don’t know _Mando_ , he said you are a threat to my safety.” You smile broadly at him. You had never called him that name before and it makes him grimace.

He lowers his blaster. “Not funny, Y/N.” 

“HK, am I allowed to tell you to do whatever I want?”

“Yes, as long as it is not in violation of any primary protocols that Master Wrex installed this morning.” HK lowers his blaster. “Excuse, Master. My former master Wrex.”

“My first order is that I don’t want you to call me Master.” You step around him and go to Din’s side. “My second order is that I don’t want you to harm the Mandalorian in any way. And you need to do what he says. Got it?”

“Yes...Mas - uh - not-Master, Master.”

“I don’t want a droid.” Din remarks.

“Well, good. Because Wrex gave him to _me._ ” You smile at him as you continue to walk towards the Razor Crest.

######  **_—-♡—-_ **

“Be here.” You whisper to yourself. “Be here.” 

You are currently sitting cross-legged on top of a rock on the edge of a very steep cliff overlooking a deep red canyon. You try and focus everything you have on feeling the things around you. 

“Number One, your meal is prepared for you at the campsite.” You open your eyes to the sound of HK-77’s voice. His new nickname for you came after some rather challenging conversations with him when he insisted on calling you, Master. Finally, you had agreed to let him call you Number One, the child Number Two, and Din Number Three - to his great annoyance and your utter delight. 

You stand up and grab your blade. “Is Din there already?” 

“Yes, he is waiting for you, I believe, Number One.” You start walking back through the pines down the rocky ridge.

You and Din had found a secluded planet where you had kept a low profile for the past week, thanks in part to your stop on Sorgan, which had provided you with plenty of supplies. You worried now with your escape from the Imperials, they would be sending more hunters after you than before. You knew it was only a matter of time before they found you. So HK’s primary job was to keep watch over you as you spent hours a day trying to practice your skills. Trying to learn how to properly control the Force. Din’s main responsibility was to watch over the child making sure he was safe and that he didn’t eat too many bugs. 

However, you were always reluctant to leave him. A part of you wanted to spend as much time around Din as you could. He had grown much more talkative since you had first met. And you were no longer afraid to ask him questions. You knew you should be trying to get better with your blade. You knew you should be practicing and meditating. But it was much easier to ignore those things and spend time with him. With him, you felt more at home than anywhere else from your past. 

The two of you had never spoken about the night you had slept in his arms. Helmetless. But you thought about it often. It would creep into your mind at the worst times. You couldn’t help but wonder if it meant as much to him as it had to you. You often fell asleep next to him, sometimes with his hand in yours, just making sure he stayed close. But he never removed his helmet or gloves as you fell asleep. He always sat upright watching over you until he was sure you had fallen asleep before attempting to sleep himself.

As you trudged your way back into the camp your thoughts returned to that night and about how safe you had felt in his arms. How much he must trust you, and that must mean he cares about you. You push the thought aside when the ship and campsite come into view. The child squeals when he sees you and waddles over. You pick him up and walk over to where you see three plates waiting by the fire. 

Din doesn’t say a word as he picks up his plate and turns to go eat inside the safety of the ship. The child’s ears droop as he looks after him sadly. 

“I wish he would stay too.” You whisper, a little too loudly, and you turn away in embarrassment not letting Din catch sight of your eyes.

Din stops in his tracks and turns to look at the two of you as you sit and start to feed the child, still avoiding eye contact. Then he turns and walks to the ship. You let out a long slow sigh. 

“I detect a large amount of emotional distress, Number One. Is there something the matter with your meal?” HK inquires.

“No, HK. I am fine.” You say as you continue to help the child, not even looking towards your own plate.

“I have identified a large amount of unhappiness whenever Number Three chooses to lea - “

“Yes, thank you, HK. I understand.” You say exhausted. 

“It would seem that you harbor a strong emotional attachment to - ”

“Hey HK, I would like you to shut up. Please.” You don’t look at the droid as you finish helping the child with his food. The one thing you know for sure is that the little kid could eat. Food practically evaporated as soon as you put it in front of him. 

You turn to your own plate but you aren’t that hungry. Something is bothering you but you don’t want to let those thoughts stray back into your mind. So you try and focus on anything but your Mandalorian companion. You are focusing so hard you don’t hear Din approaching, still carrying a full plate of food. 

“Do you trust me?” He asks you, you look up at him startled by his sudden reappearance. 

“Of course.” You say still looking at him. From behind his back, he produces a small piece of fabric. He gets on his knees in front of you setting aside his plate and looking straight at you.

“Trust me.” He says softly.

He leans over and wraps the strip of fabric around your eyes. You can feel him fumble with the tie on the back of your head. You hear him stand back and retreat away from you.

“Can you see anything?”

You open your eyes and laugh because obviously you can’t. Your eyes are completely covered by the dark brown fabric.

“This isn’t usually how I like to be blindfolded.” You giggle up at him. You hear something like a sigh from Din’s helmet. Another minute passes and you just sit there ideally. “Um, should I do something?” You say as you outstretch your hand searching for your plate. 

“No.” Your ears perk up. It’s his voice. His real voice. You hear him sit down next to you as he places the plate in your hands. You angle your head. You are sure you must have misheard so without thinking you ask.

“So, the kid can see you but not me?” You ask half-annoyed, half-jokingly.

“He’s a part of my clan.” His voice is so deep, comforting. You are amazed at how much different it sounds. It sounds so much more human. And yet it sounds just like your Mandalorian. And you have to rush to stop the thought of ‘your Mandalorian’ from crossing your mind.

“You know I could just search his thoughts and find you, right?”

“I know. But I trust you enough that I know you won’t.” You are touched by this. Mostly because of how much he must trust you, but also because that sounds like something you would most certainly do had he not said that.

“I guess I’ll have to wait then, Mandalorian. To see what you really look like.” You say it as a joke. You feel an ungloved hand make its way into yours.

“I guess you will have to stick around to find out.” You look in the direction of his voice and smile widely. 

#####  **—-♡—-**

“I’m telling you to trust me. I think we will find the answers we are searching for.”

“Y/N, not this again. Please, I just woke up.”

For the past two days, you had been camped on a cold planet. It was covered in snow and ice and strange creatures that circled above you in the air ominously. You had spent most of your time inside the ship waiting for just a hint of the sun to peek out so you could go look around. So far you had made it half a mile from the ship with the child before realizing that you were ill-equipped to handle this type of weather. 

Last night, you hadn’t been able to sleep. You finally relented and stood to leave the sleeping quarters, knowing full well that Din was waiting for you to fall asleep before he attempted it himself. He had asked you to stay, he didn’t want you wandering without him. You promised to take HK with you, and the exhausted Mandalorian agreed. 

So you spent the cold morning trekking across the small valley in every piece of clothing you and Din owned in order to stay warm enough. You walked until you reached the top of a ridge overlooking the entire valley. The sun peeked out and you watched the beautiful sunrise over distant snowy mountain peaks. After several hours you finally decided that you needed to convince Din to take you to the planet that you kept dreaming about. The one you kept having visions about. A vision so vivid you are sure some part of it was real.

“Din, this is important. I know what I saw. I saw the planet Dantooine. I saw the Jedi there.”

“I believe you.”

“So why can’t we go?” There is a silence between the two of you. He doesn’t answer you and instead focuses on the child who is happily eating a small piece of bread. “Well?!”

Din stands and picks up the child. He babbles up at his father as if trying to add to the conversation. Despite how angry you feel, you can’t help but feel a tinge of happiness for having the cutest kid in the galaxy as your crewmate. 

“I need to eat,” is all he says. He reaches over to hand you the makeshift blindfold. It was now regularly used - during meals or any other time Din needed to remove his helmet. You take it out of his hand and give him a pointed glare. But still, you wrap it around your eyes before giving him the thumbs up that you were all set. You hear the metallic click of the helmet. 

“Here.” Din hands you a plate. You drop it on the makeshift table you had crafted from crates and other various containers for the three of you, more forcefully than was necessary. He chooses to ignore this gesture. There are a few more minutes of silence, where you sit with your arms crossed staring at where you think Din must be. You can hear the child babbling and the soft chews from Din. “No, that’s hers.” You hear him say softly.

“He can have it. I am not hungry.” Your voice is laced with venom. 

“If I may Number One, you need to eat.”

“I am fine, thank you, HK.”

“Unfortunately, Number One, I am currently detecting that you have an above-average heart rate, as well as, an above-average blood pressure. It may be noted that this is being caused by an immense amount of emotional discomfort.”

“HK, how many times have I told you not to monitor my emotional state?” Now you are starting to boil over. You didn’t need the droid to tell you that you were emotionally distressed. 

You can feel Din’s ungloved hand reach for yours and you instantly jerk it away and leap up. You feel the crate from under you slam back against the wall. 

You hear HK moving to pick up the crate you just threw into the wall. “If I may say so Number Three, I believe you are the root cause of this emotional distress.” 

“Yeah, I’m picking up on that.” Din replies.

“May I suggest - ” 

“No, you may not,” Din affirms to the droid. You feel HK place the crate underneath you again, so you can sit down, not commenting on your outburst. HK had grown more and more used to recognizing these moments and was now prepared with how to handle them.

You are standing above the table trying to contain the anger you feel. You feel Din’s hand again in yours, you take it and sit down. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” There is a sincereness in his voice that is unmistakable. 

“Why won’t you listen to me?” You spit out. 

“I am listening.” He tries to hand you the plate again. This time instead of pushing it away you feel a flash of energy and here a slam against the side of the ship. You jerk at the noise. You go to remove the blindfold but HK prevents you from removing it. You had programmed him to not allow you to take the blindfold off, only Din could remove it once the helmet was securely back on. You sit there for a minute feeling guilty for having unintentionally made a mess. Mostly you feel bad for using your powers in a moment of anger. 

You hear Din get up. You feel him place the child in your arms. 

“Hold him.” He doesn’t sound angry and somehow this makes you feel so much worse. You sit there, blinded, trying to decide what to do. A part of you still feels angry towards Din for not listening to what you have to say. But another part of you feels bad because you know he is doing what he thinks is best to keep the two of you safe. Finally, you stand and you hand the child to HK, without a word. You can feel everything around. The layout of the room, the people, the objects, and so it is effortless for you to make your way to where he is hunched over. 

“Let me.” You say softly. As you kneel down next to him to help pick it up. You help put the scattered food back on the plate. He stands and you face him. You feel his ungloved hand run down the side of your cheek and down your neck. 

“Okay, tell me again.” You perk up. You take his hand from your neck and hold it.

“Really?” You are surprised and excited at the same time. He removes his hand and walks away from you. You hear a shuffling of metal and a familiar click and so you wait. In a matter of seconds, you feel the tug of the blindfold and it falls down into your hands. “I keep seeing an enclave. Of Jedi. On Dantooine. And he’s there.” You point to the child excitedly. “He has a proper teacher!”

“I still don’t think it is a good idea. Dantooine has always been a critical outer rim world to the Republic.” You blink once up towards your helmeted friend. 

“Well, maybe because of the Jedi there!” You plead. 

“The last planet we thought was a lead, almost got both of us killed.” Din states. 

“I’ve told you a hundred times. They lured you there. You couldn’t have known they would be waiting for us.” You grab his other hand and tilt your head towards him. “And plus, now we know what he’s after.”

“They still hurt you.” You feel him rubbing circles on the backs of your hands. “I am not going to risk - “

“It’s not a risk though! I know we will be safe, I saw it!” You grab him by the helmet and look straight at the t-shape visor. “I know it! You have to believe me!”

“Y/N….I believe you. That’s not - that’s not why I have a problem.” He takes your hands in his and lowers them before turning around to face the other way. 

“Well, what then?”

“I don’t exactly trust you know what your abilities mean,” He says it quickly as if trying to get something out of the way. You take a step back, offended. 

“I know what I’m capable of!” You shout at him and you see objects in the room start to hum as your anger starts to boil to the surface. He looks at you for a minute as objects begin to move slightly around the room. 

“If I may, Number One - “ You hold up your finger to stop the droid from saying something that would further annoy you. Din steps towards you and puts his hands on both your arms rubbing them soothingly. 

“Hey, be here. Right? That’s what you say. Be here.” You look up as the visor and nod. He holds you like that for a moment until everything in the room begins to settle and you feel yourself let out a long breath. You take a step back from Din and look at the child who is looking between the two of you with wide eyes. “We are going to find someone. Someone that’ll teach the both of you. Wrex knew Korriban was an evil place. He mentioned how it was a Sith homeworld. He heard rumors that they used it for something during the war. Maybe I should - ”

“This isn’t about the Sith, I saw Jedi. If there is an enclave, even one that is a part of the New Republic we need to find them!” You look up at him desperately. 

“All the more reason to avoid it. If they have established a base there, there are likely spies. And not just for the Imps.” He is avoiding your gaze and turns his back. 

“But what if there are Jedi? Jedi with answers. Not just for me, but for him.” You say exasperated. “They can teach me how to use this.” You stick out your hand towards him and the blaster that always remained secured to his hip rushes into your hand. You point it straight at him.

Din stares at you for a very long moment. He slowly walks over and you lower the blaster as he gets closer to you. He puts his hand over yours and takes his blaster back up and takes one more step so he is standing right above you. He is inches from you. You can see your breath on his helmet. And you just stare back at him, trying desperately to ignore the feeling in your stomach and the urge to rip his helmet off. And you tilt your head slightly at him and wonder if he is thinking the same things about you. If he wants you as badly as you want him. Not even in a sexual way (though you have to admit to yourself, you had thought about it more than you care to admit. Especially for someone you had never actually seen.) But just to see all of him. To be able to be with him in every way possible. To know that you see him as completely as he sees you. 

Neither of you back down from the stare. And Din knows deep down that you are right. That it would be foolish not to listen to you. But as he looks down into your deeply purple eyes he doesn’t want to admit that. He doesn’t want to take you to Dantootine, because he is afraid of what they might find there. He knows he can handle any enemies that might come for the two of you, but what he can’t handle is the idea of losing you. The both of you. If there are more Jedi, if you decide to stay with them, then he would be forced to return to a life of solitude. By Creed, he must return the child to his kind, and he knows that you would follow him. And that thought terrified him. 

“May I interrupt, Number One?” You don't take your eyes off Din. “I detect a great deal of -” You hold up your hand to silence the droid.

“How many times must I remind HK, do not read me.” You are still staring at Din. Finally, he relents and turns his head towards the droid and the child in his arms. 

“I was referring to the child,” HK responds. “He is responding to your conversation with a great deal of concern. I believe he would like to communicate something.”

“What?” You and Din both say at the same time as you both turn to fully face the droid. The child’s arms are outstretched towards Din. 

“I believe he is trying to use his abilities to communicate something to Number Three.” Din takes him out of the droid's arms and the child reaches up towards his helmet. It looks as if he is trying to take it off. He pulls with all his tiny might at the bottom of the helmet, and Din sighs. He looks at you. 

“Right, right. Him, not me.” You say more bitterly than you mean to as you take the blindfold still in your hand and wrap it around your eyes. HK moves to make sure it is secure. You give the thumbs up. There are a few minutes of silence before you hear a deep gasp in Din’s voice. You hear the child grabble something back at him. Then you feel the child hastily pressed into your arms as you hear Din retreating out of the small space. 

You wait for a moment, then go to remove the blindfold. HK stops you and you let out a dejected sigh. You place the child on the floor and you move to find Din. Even with the blindfold on you close your eyes and take a deep breath. You can sense everything around and so you slowly make your way to the cockpit where you can hear the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

“Din?” You ask quietly. 

“Sorry I - I - just got overwhelmed. Here. Let me - “ You can feel him stand and move to exit. You put your hands on either side of him and slowly maneuver him back to his chair. You kneel down in front of him and look up where you imagine he’d be. You move your hand to his cheek and run it along his jaw feeling the rough stubble. You move your hand down his neck to his cool chest plate and to his shoulder where you can feel the outline of his signet. 

“Tell me the story again.” You say quietly as you outline the mudhorn on his shoulder. 

Din is quietly looking at your lips as they twist up in a small smile as you follow along the lines on his shoulder. He feels your other hand resting gingerly on his thigh. He has told you the story of the mudhorn what feels like hundreds of times. But each time you seemed as thrilled to hear it as the last. He feels your fingers rubbing circles on the inside of his thigh and he can’t resist himself. He places his hand under your chin and he brings your face closer to his.

You freeze. You feel his fingers under your chin raising your face closer and closer to his. You are so close to him you can feel his warm breath on your lips. Your noses’ gently rub together. And you feel the rough stubble on his chin graze yours as he tilts his head slightly. You let out a small breath and you are just about to close the remaining distance - 

“Excuse me, Number One.” The two of you break apart quickly. “Is this an inconvenient time? I am following my programming mandate that you cannot remove - “ 

“Thank you, HK, as astute as ever.” You say trying not to feel annoyed and instead let out a small laugh. You feel Din jump up and you can sense him leave the room. You slump over on the floor leaning against the pilot's chair. 

“I will wait for him to return to remove your eye covering. Should we practice your training?” 

You wave him off. And just sit slumped on the floor replaying it over and over in your head. And you are starting to think that your feelings are going to overwhelm you.

######  **—-♡—-**

“Y/N?”

You open your eyes. You are levitating some 10 feet in the air trying to hold your balance and balance HK across from you. You see Din below you and lose focus. HK starts to wobble before crashing to the ground with a loud yell. 

“Nearly perfect, Master.” HK remarks as he stumbles off the ground brushing off leaves and dirt. “I would consider working on a few things. May I suggest, firstly, a more appropriate - ” You stop listening to HK and flip forward to land in front of Din. 

“Hey, you’re getting good at that.” He smirks.

You looked up at Din now and smiled. “Thank you I’ve been practicing.” You bent over and picked up the child at his feet and he giggled excitedly.

The two of you had hardly spoken since that morning on the ship. It had been agony for the last seven days. The now heated silence between you only continued to grow each time you shared a space with one another. Din had even gone back to eating meals alone. You felt as if you had done something wrong. Crossed some invisible line that you didn’t know couldn’t be crossed. And so instead of confronting Din about it, you did what you had always done, you ran. You ran away by pouring yourself into your training. 

You had started combat training with HK. With blasters, rifles, daggers, and even a double-edged vibrosword. You spent half the day practicing with HK with weapons and the other half trying to figure out how to better control the Force. It turned out HK was a pretty good teacher. He was able to teach you the most effective ways to attack using not only the weapons you were using but your Force powers by dissecting each of your sessions together. And yet you could still easily lose your temper, sending HK flying backward or hitting him with a rock. Or even once sending a tree crashing down on top of him. You couldn’t seem to control the rage that would boil over and it was starting to scare you the amount of damage you could do without meaning to.

You knew Din would often stand just off in the distance and watch you for most of the day when he wasn’t otherwise preoccupied with the child. HK often noted that you were more likely to make mistakes and seemed more distracted during these times. You reminded him that you did not need your emotional state dissected. 

“I - uh - I have some - well two things actually - that I wanted to share.” Din is holding his arms behind his back.

You don’t say anything. Only reach your hand behind and feel you vibroblade zip into your hand. The child reaches out his tiny hand and a small rock rushes into his palm and he squeals. You look at him with admiration and set him down so that he can waddle over to show HK his new rock friend. 

“Oh, most splendid Number Two.” You hear HK say as he observes the rock.

“Well, actually, that's what I wanted to say. You’ve been getting so much better, these past few weeks. So today, I decided that you deserved something a little better while I was picking up supplies. To beat up the droid with.” He swings his arm around and in it is a shiny new vibroblade. You don’t say anything, just reach out and slowly take it in your hands. “It’s the electric kind. So it’ll do more damage. ” 

You see the small yellow button on the hilt and hit it and the blade starts to buzz excitedly in your hand. You grin wickedly and turn to HK. 

“What do you say HK? Are you good for another round?”

“Oh joy, Master. This will be good fun for us all.” You can hear the sarcasm, even from his robotic voice. HK reverted to calling you Master whenever he was upset, confused, or otherwise annoyed. You turn back to Din.

“Thank you, Din. How can I repay you?”

“It’s a gift. For a friend.” You smile up at him when he says the word friend. You know whatever he might not feel in return towards you, that he viewed you as a friend. And at that moment being his friend meant a lot. You turn and start to swing the blade getting a feel for its weight. You take your other blade and start to swing them together, in sync. You jump high in the air and backflip over Din, landing on your knees behind him with the blades sticking in the ground.

“Now you are just showing off.” He says with the hint of a smile in his voice. You look up and smile at him. 

“What was the second thing?” You stand and retract your first blade and place it on your thigh. Din hands you a sheath and you quickly tuck it across your shoulders as it hangs tightly on your back. You sheath the new blade. You can’t stop smiling as you do so, excited about the possibilities of your new weapon. 

“Oh, right.” Din rubs the back of his helmet. You start to walk toward the small camp you had set up for the night on this new planet. “I was hoping you still wanted to go to Dantooine.”

You whirl around. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” He replies and walks to your side. “I didn’t tell you - well because I didn’t want you to be disappointed if they failed, but -”

“Who?” You blurt out.

“I asked Wrex and Cara to survey Dantooine, to make sure it was safe. Turns out no one has set up base there. Only a few local settlements. I was thinking we could leave in the morning.”

You’re left speechless. You had thought all this time that he had ignored you and forgotten about what you had said. You thought that he didn’t trust you. As it turns out, he had been taking extra steps to ensure your safety. 

“Are you being serious?”

“Why would I lie?”

You feel overwhelmed. And without thinking, you close the gap between the two of you and throw your arms around him. You feel him freeze for a moment then you slowly feel his arms wrap your waist and embrace back.

"Thank you.” You whisper next to his helmet. He doesn’t respond but he pulls you a little closer. The two of you stay interlocked until you feel the familiar tugging at your robes. You look down and see the child look up at you with a smile. Without letting go of Din, you lean down and scoop him up so he is resting between the two of you. The child puts one hand on your cheek and the other at Din’s helmet. And you feel it. The Force. The connection. The feeling of joy and hope and togetherness radiating off the child. 

“Are you - are you doing that?” Din stutters.

“No. That’s all him.” You smile. 

“I am sure I am included in this, Master.” You feel HK place a metal hand on your shoulder and at that, you hear even Din let out a soft laugh. 

#####  **—-♡—-**

You are biting your lip trying to focus as you use the needle to sew the pattern on the familiar piece of cloth you had been using as a blindfold. 

“What are you doing?” Din asks you.

“Ouch!” You say as you poke yourself with the needle yet again. “You will have to wait and see, just like everyone else.” You look over at the child who is completely mesmerized by your use of the shiny needle. 

“You can move objects with your mind, but you can’t avoid poking yourself while mending something?” Din turns to face you directing. You don’t reply but just stick your tongue out at him. You hear him chuckle softly before turning back around to pilot the ship.

The four of you were heading towards Dantooine just as he had promised the night before. After he gave your new sword and told you of his plan to send Cara and Wrex to scout it out, the two of you had eaten a meal back to back, no blindfold. Din had insisted. And so you sat facing straight forward with your spine pressed squarely against his as you both munched on your dinners. You barely spoke a word but you were so effortlessly happy, it felt criminal. 

“Just so I understand it correctly, you can only show your face to those sworn to your clan?” You had asked him while you rested your head against his back which was cool from his armor. 

“Yes.” 

“Can anyone swear themselves to your clan then?” You ask.

“If they decide to swear themselves to the Creed. Then we can choose if they may wear our signet.” He answers. An idea pops into your head then, you aren’t sure if it’s a good one, but you decide to act upon it anyhow. 

You look down at your sewing project with the ship zooming through space. It was a crude job. But you didn’t have that much time to work on it, plus decorating projects were not your strong suit. You mostly only knew how to fix things, not make them look nice. 

“Andddd, done.” You announce as you pull the last thread through the old blindfold. 

“Am I allowed to know what it is now?” Din asks.

“Yes, hold on.” You take the piece of fabric and begin to wrap it around your bicep. Once you reach the end you neatly tuck the end in, displaying your sewing job squarely on the outside of your upper arm. “Ta-da!” You proudly stick out your arm in Din’s direction to show off your work. 

Din turns in his chair to see what you had been working on all morning. He sees that you had fastened the old piece of fabric that you had been using for a blindfold around your upper arm. And he sees you had sewn a symbol into it. 

The mudhorn. The signet on his armor. The signet of his clan. 

He stares at your arm as you twist it back and forth looking at your handy work. Din reaches up and runs his fingers across the stitching and you smile up at him excitedly. He looks straight into your eyes which are shifting from a bright neon pink to a bright yellow. He doesn’t know what to say. He just continues to run his fingers along the stitching. Moments pass in silence and slowly your smile begins to fade the longer Din reminds quiet. Finally, you decide to break the silence by pulling your arm away and looking up at him shyly.

“Maybe I should have asked. I thought it would be useful to have the blindfold on hand. And I wanted to make it look nice...I guess I may have assumed too much, I...um I can’t believe..wow sorry.” You ramble in a whisper.

Din still can’t bring himself to express what he is feeling. He is completely overwhelmed by your gesture of loyalty. By your gesture of friendship. He is flooded with a desire to rip off his helmet. To finally find out what your lips taste like. To finally have no barrier between you and him. But he knows better than to act on impulse. As you start to unwrap your arm he places his hands over your bicep and shakes his head. 

“It’s...perfect.” You hear a crack in his voice. You wonder if he might be tearing up behind the helmet. You just smile up at him and tuck the end back in. 

“Well, now we match.” You point to his shoulder and giggle excitedly. “I should make one for the little one. So we all do.” 

“You didn’t mention making one for me, but I am sure you intend to, Master.” This causes you to laugh out loud, just as the ship starts beeping as it reaches its drop from hyperspace. 

######  **—-♡—-**

“According to the coordinates given this is the correct destination,” HK informs you. The child is looking wide-eyed at the grassy plain in front of you secured to HK’s back. All you can see is a large uneven pile of grass-covered rocks. 

“Number One, is there another destination that you would like to try?”

You let out a long slow sigh. “No, HK. Those were the coordinates that came to me, I’m sure they are right.” Din steps up and puts his hand on your shoulder. 

“Do you want to try and meditate? See if anything else comes to you?” You look back at him and grimace. You had spent two days searching the planet and you had turned up empty-handed. You were starting to feel embarrassed about how much you had insisted on coming here, only to find nothing. 

“It turns out you get to say I told you so, after all, Mandalorian.” You turn back and face him and just grin.

“Y/N, I - ” You put a finger up to his helmet to stop him.

“I was wrong. Not the first time. Surely, not the last.” 

You move to step around him. Then suddenly you feel it pull. A weight in your stomach so heavy that you fall to the ground in a whimper of pain. 

_“My young padawan. Open your eyes.”_

You hear that voice again. Her voice. It's as if she is standing right above you. Your vision blurs and suddenly your surroundings start to shift. You cry out for Din and reach for his hand but all you feel is emptiness.

You look around and see you are on the same planet. Standing in the same place as before. In front of there are many circular buildings. There are people in long robes and they roam freely. You see that each of them carries a lightsaber on their side. And you see now that you are in front of a Jedi enclave. One that is thousands of years old. One of the Old Republic. You slowly make your way across the courtyard and see that enclave opens up to reveal what you remember from the Jedi Academy of Courcast. Young and old meditating in silence together. Others are reading together and learning the accident writings. Some are practicing with their sabers. Others still are helping citizens with civil disputes. You look around awestruck and see that these are the ghosts of a long-ago past. You are walking in a memory. You close your eyes and take a breath.

When you open them again you are staring at a certain t-shape kneeling in front of you.

“Are you okay? What was that?” Din has his arms around you making sure you're alright. 

“It was a memory. I was in a memory. There were Jedi here. A long long time ago. In the accident times.” 

“You were...in a memory?” Din says, uncertainly. 

“Yes.” You take a deep breath and stand with the help of Din’s hand. “These ruins are thousands of years old. But it was a Jedi enclave. We need to get inside.”

“Inside?” You can hear the question in his voice as he stares at the big unsuspecting pile of rocks in front of you. 

“Yes, there is something I need to see.” You slowly walk forward. You motion for the others to stay back. You hear the baby start to blather up at Din loudly. 

“I’m not sure, either.” You hear him reply.

You walk and put your hand on the rock pile. You close your eyes and just feel. You try and let everything else go. You try to only feel the energy that is gathering around you and focus all your effort into controlling it. You open your eyes and to your surprise, the pile of rocks is now floating in the air and all around you revealing a large sloping surface beneath leading down below. You continue to hold the rocks in the air surprised by your own strength as Din and HK walk through them, the child giggling up in delight and trying to touch as many as he can. 

Din looks around in awe at the rocks as they start to float away from the gap and you place them down gently so they aren’t blocking your path. He looks to you and you smirk at him, your eyes wide and shining an intense golden color. He stops you before you start to descend into the dark gap in front you. 

“We should send HK first. To make sure it is safe.” Din looks to HK, who is turning his head between the two of you.

“Good idea. HK give me the child. And go see what’s down there.”

“What a lovely idea, Master. A dark pit, I am sure there is nothing terribly dangerous down there.” He reaches back for the child and hands him to you before pulling out his pulse rifle. You just roll your eyes at him as he starts to walk down the sloped surface. 

You and Din wait at the top for a few minutes before you hear blaster fire you instinctively reach for the blade on your back. Din steps in front of you protectively. You hear footsteps coming in your direction. 

“You will be happy to know that I have taken care of the dangerous vermin. It is now safe to proceed.”

Din doesn’t say anything, just places you firmly behind him as he turns on the light attached to his helmet. You hand the kid back to HK and he straps returns him to the security of the backpack. You lean forward and take Din’s hand as it gets darker. He squeezes it once as you both slowly walk further and further into the darkness. Minutes pass. You cannot see anything outside of the rays of light coming from Din’s helmet and HK eyes. You hold on to his hand harder. You get the feeling that you are not alone. Someone is watching you. 

You grab Din and whisper in his helmet. “Someone is here. Someone is watching us.”

He doesn’t say anything, just nods and keeps walking. Finally, you see light ahead. You approach it with caution. It is lighting a small door frame with ancient text scribbled above it. Din stops to examine it. You walk forward and place your hand on the old stone. 

“It’s an old archive, I believe, Number One,” HK says. “The translation reads Records of Those Past.” 

You turn and look at Din excitedly. “This is it. We’ve found it!” You turn back and see if there is a way to open the door. “HK, is there a way for you to open this? A plugin?” 

“Yes, please give me one minute to process.”

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” You hear a crack in Din’s voice.

“This is what we have been looking for all this time. We can finally understand what this is. What we are.” You motion between yourself and the child.

He only nods at you, but the idea that this might give you an answer that leads you away from him makes him want to take your hand and run. But he doesn’t. He stands loyally by your side as HK opens the rusted door made of metal and stone. 

The door opens with a great hissing sound. You are surprised to see light shining in from a few cracks from the surface. There are several computer terminals that are damaged and overturned. The walls are covered from floor to ceiling in shelves. You assume that they must have at one point been filled with books. Now you see that only a few remain, with many more rotting away at the floor. You walk in slowly and breathe in the old air that smells like earth and rot. You see that there are still books piled on one of the shelves and it looks to be intact. You carefully pick one off the shelf and open its pages. Dust flies off the old, faded pages. You see writing in a language you cannot read with drawings and pictures of creatures you don’t recognize. “HK, can you translate these?

You ask and you look through another book’s pages, you see pictures depicting many Jedi being gunned down by what appeared to be the Mandalorians. You can feel Din behind you stiffen slightly at the sight as you run your fingers over the fallen Jedi. 

“Certainly, Number One, I will paraphrase as best as I can. This text is very old.” He walks up and takes the book out of your hands and examines it. “This is a depiction of The Mandalorian Wars and The Jedi Knights, Revan and Malack who led a rebel group of Jedi to aid the Republic as Mandalore the Great brutally conquered most of the mid-rim worlds.” Din and you look over the pictures of Jedi as they stand above an army of Mandalorians that had been captured. “The aid of the Jedi during the War was in defiance to the Jedi Council, who did not believe in being involved in the conflicts of the Republic.” 

You slowly move along the shelves. Gently dusting them off as you go trying to find another book that is as intact. You want to ask Din if he knew about this history of his people. You wonder how it is possible for people to forget such brutal acts committed against one another. How had you never heard of this history before now? How is it possible to forget such death and destruction?

You stop as you stumble upon another book. You flick open and see as one picture causes your stomach to turn. You examine the picture more closely and see a cloaked figure with a sinister-looking red and black mask, like the one from your dreams, holding a red lightsaber above a large army in a pose of victory. Before you can ask, HK looks at the text and starts to translate. 

“This is explaining the picture above. It says ‘The Dark Lord Revan and her apprentice Darth Malak turned their newly formed army against the Jedi in an attempt to take control of the galaxy.’” 

You flip to the next page and run your fingers over the figure. “So, who is Darth Revan?” You ask HK, breathlessly. He looks over your shoulder and begins to read over several lines of script.

“To paraphrase this rather long story, it would appear that Revan was cast out of the Jedi order. Because of her role in the Mandalorian Wars. She broke the oath she had taken upon becoming a Jedi.” HK looks at the next picture which shows two dark figures standing in front of a Star Map. 

“It would appear her partner Malack followed her on the path of exile. In an attempt to seek revenge on the Jedi Council for their role in Mandalorian Wars they sought out the ways of the Sith. Darth Revan became one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and conquered nearly half of all known worlds, creating an army so powerful none believed she could be stopped.”

You flip the page and gaze at the picture next to it. The picture shows a young woman with a yellow lightsaber holding the masked figure in her arms as blaster fire rages around them.

“I believe this is describing the young Jedi Knight, Bastilla Shun, confronting the Dark Lord Revan in one last attempt to destroy her and her army before she conquered the Republic capital. But Revan’s own apprentice, and beloved partner, turned against her in his own lust for power and struck her down - Bastilla saved Revan’s life, in an act of pure humility.”

You turn to look at the next page and run your hand across it to clear the dust. Your heart stops. “Din, look.” You are breathless. On the page you see a small green looking creature with large ears. He is standing next to others in a half circle looking at the body of the same masked figure. HK continues the story as he runs his metal hand along the ancient text.

“This recounts the Jedi Council on Dantooine deciding to use their collective power to restore Revan to her former self. Erasing all darkness from her. Hoping she could be the one to restore peace to the galaxy she destroyed.”

“Does it give their names?” You ask him pointing at the little green creature that was half the size of the other aliens in the depiction. 

“Unfortunately, it does not specify its name or the name of the species,” HK tells you.

Din takes the book from you and runs his hand down the page before flipping through the pages looking for similar depictions of creature that resembled the child. You turn and start looking for another book that might be intact. Din frustratedly shoves the book back in HK’s hands and walks over to a turned over shelf looking for anything useful.

“This is a very interesting story, Number One. Should I continue it?”HK says looking at the same page as before. You begin to run your hands over the spines of more books blowing off the dust. You grab one off the shelf and it practically falls apart in your hands. You shrug and turn back to HK as he hands you his book and you see the depiction of the same figure, this time without the mask. She is staring at you with brilliant blue eyes and a white lightsaber.

“What became Darth Revan?” You ask breathlessly. 

“The newly reformed Revan was dispelled from the Jedi Order along with Bastilla Shun, as the two had formed a deep connection when Bastilla saved Revan’s life. Interesting.” HK notes. And he glances over at Din who is still searching through the turned over shelf. You notice his eyes and you hit his metal arm. He looks back at you without saying anything, “Despite this, _Master,_ it would appear, were able to stop Darth Malak. But Revan was not able to stop the chaos that disrupted the galaxy. Many planets declared open war against the Old Republic, and the Jedi. So the galaxy fell into disarray.”

You wipe your hand across another page and see a depiction of the Mandalorians conquering what looked like planets on fire. While the Jedi lay dead beneath them. 

“What happened?” You say as you look at the picture, not able to take your eyes away.

“Because the Jedi had dispelled Reven she decided to gather those loyal to her to stop the chaos from spreading. It appears the Mandalorians pledged their loyalty to her. So the Jedi declared her a traitor and an outlaw.”

“Why?” You ask as you trace the outline of a Mandalorian. The armor looked dated, but somehow it remained the same after all these years

“The Mandalorians were considered an enemy of the Republic after the Mandalorian Wars, just 10 years prior.”

You see Din turn towards you and HK. And he walks over and runs his hand over the picture of the Mandalorians as they brutally defeat the Jedi. “It would appear that the Mandalorians wanted to bring order to the galaxy through military strength and the Jedi believed in bringing order through uniting the galaxy under a common banner.”

“What happened?” Din whispers.

“The Mandalorians and the Jedi declared war on each other and both sides suffered significant losses. Revan, decided that she could no longer live inside the chaos she had created and she fled into the unknown regions of space in search of something that could ultimately control the chaos. This says that many have been lost seeking to find her throughout history.”

You run your hands over the last picture and see the same blue eyes looking back at you. For a moment you think that the figure moves. But you blink, and it returns to its place on the page. Din is still running his hands over the depictions of the Mandalorians slaughtering the Jedi. You slowly reach out and take his other hand. 

“Come on Din, let’s see if we can find something that can tell us more about this Jedi Council.” You flip back to the picture of the small green creature and hold it up. He hesitates at your pull. Then you sense it. And you stop dead instinctively reaching for your blade. 

You hear the deep buzz of electricity and the glow of blue as the lightsaber ignites in front of you before you hear her voice. 

  
“Hello, Y/N, my dear. It has taken you far too long to find me. Come, time is short.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case there was any confusion Revan is female and she is my bi queen. And that is that. I will not be taking criticism at this time. I will try and post the next update in the next week. I REALLY hope you liked this!


	9. ix - the clan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You run into an old friend. The Mandalorian’s clan gains a member (or 2).

_“Hello, Y/N, my dear. It has taken you far too long to find me. Come, time is short.”_

The words fill the space as the echo around the room. Her face is unmistakable. She may be a bit older but you would have recognized her anywhere. His features are sharp with a long nose and high cheekbones that made her eyes appear smaller than normal with hollow, sunken cheeks. She looks like she has been slowly rotting away down here all this time. You can see the same scar across her chin and lips, which are curved downward in a deep frown.

She looks at you with her beady, grey eyes which are illuminated from her blue lightsaber. You see her and all you feel is rage. Without thinking you grab the blade on your back and make a running leap towards her prepared to strike the final blow. She extends her hand and you freeze in mid-air. You hear blaster fire. She flicks her wrist and it hits the shelves behind her. She releases you and you fall in a heap on the floor. The rage still boils inside and so you throw up your hands wanting to hurt her but instead you feel as if it has backfired and you go skipping back hitting Din’s leg.

He reaches down and helps you up. And you grab your other blade from your thigh ready to strike again.

“Come now, child. We do not have time for such silly games.” You hear she say as she stands up straight and begins walking towards you with her hand outstretched. You feel Din place a protective arm around and step in front of you so that you are hidden from view. She stops and admires him for a moment with a smirk.

“Aw, I see. You have not told The Mandalorian who has been helping you this entire time?” She stops and opens her arms wide. “My name is Ki’rya Telyn. I am this padawans teacher.”

Din looks between the two of you. Your eyes are a fiery red and he can hear you breathing rapidly staring straight at the woman, blades raised, ready to strike. Ki’rya takes another step forward.

“Don’t come any closer,” Din warns his blaster raised in her direction as he tries to block you from her view.

“We will have no choice but to terminate you should you threaten my master again,” HK says. And for the first, Ki’rya smiles and then laughs towards the droid.

“You two mean nothing to me,” She flicks her wrist, and Din goes flying sideways hitting the wall hard. You hear him grunt as he crumples to the floor. You shriek and try and run to him but you feel yourself being held in place as your body turns to face her. HK shoots his blaster rifle but she stops it and sends it back hitting him in the leg. He falls to a kneeling position and looks as if he has been stunned into place.

“I only need the child and you.” She approaches the droid with a devilish grin on her face. “Now let me see the little one I’ve heard so much about.”

You try twisting and turning to break the connection holding you in place. But you can’t move. She approaches the droid and he doesn’t seem to be able to fight whatever trance she placed upon him. He just rests on his knee and she bends over to see the touch child.

You feel your rage bubble to the top and you scream and release everything you feel into the energy around you. It feels like a wave comes crashing out from you and it sends everything flying back, including your old master. You hear shelves and books crashing as the room spins with the blast of energy you had just released. You see shelves fall over one by one as a few of the pillars begin to crack. You see one fall dangerously close to where Din still sits on the floor, unmoving.

Ki’rya stumbles to her feet and looks at you surprised. You swing both your blades in front of you ready to fight.

“You won’t touch him, witch.” You growl towards her. She studies you for a minute. As if she is really seeing you for the first time. She ignites her saber once more and bows towards you as if she is ready for you to attack. But before you can close the distance she reaches out her hand. You hear a shuffling of metal and you hear a modulated voice gasping for air. She holds Din suspended in the air, as she closes her fist to choke him.

“Let him go.” You can feel your rage boiling over as tears stream down your face. You hear Din gasping for air as he clutches for his neck. “I said LET HIM GO!” You scream as you lunge towards her. You hear Din’s body hit the floor hard behind you and you hear something else come crashing down. With one easy movement she flips in the air and dodges you. You overcompensate as she moves and you tumble forward clumsily. You flip around and feel the lightsaber’s heat on your neck.

“Stop acting like a child.” She spits at you. She retracts the saber. “There are things. Things you cannot possibly comprehend. And we do not have time for your silly sentimental attachments.” You lift your hands up in surrender. She leans down to give you her hand. You don’t take it as you stand you.

You don’t hesitate as you rush over to Din and see that one of the shelves had fallen on top of him. You flick your wrist and the shelf easily launches backward and off the armored man.

”Hey, it’s me. You okay?” You ask breathlessly as you feel around his neck to make sure there is no damage. He waves you off as he rolls onto his back but doesn’t reply. You look over at HK and he is still leaning down on his knee and not responding. You rush over and see the child is looking around from his little backpack sleepily and you breathe a sigh of relief. You stroke his tiny ear and he looks at you with wide eyes, before they blink heavily. But HK doesn’t respond to you when you try to help him to his feet.

“What did you do to my droid?” You snarl as you turn back to the woman. She is examining you, studying you as you care for the others in your party.

“Things you must learn in order to complete your training.”

You walk back over to Din and help him up to his feet, you can tell he is injured as he leans on you heavily for support.

“I can feel your hatred for me, child. It radiates from you so strongly that it clouds your vision.”

“Well, that’s what you get when you sell a child into a life of slavery.” You look at her with nothing but pure hatred in your heart.

“Everything I have done in the past was to save you. It was to make sure you survived to see the future you must create.” At this you lose it. You release Din from your arms and he stumbles forward a bit back onto his hands and knees. You whip out your blade again and point it straight towards her.

“I wish I died before I lived with what you did to me. I would rather have been slaughtered like the rest of them. No child deserves a life of servitude. I don’t care what my purpose is,” You scream these words at her and you can feel the energy in the room start to shift as objects begin to subtly move around. You can feel an angry sob escape your throat as you look towards her. “I wished you had killed me back on my homeworld. It would have been better than to be ripped from everything I had ever known and thrown into your arms like some pet.” You feel something grasp your hand. You look down and see Din on all fours breathing heavily.

You lean down and take his helmet into your hands looking at him directly. “Hey, I got you. Come on. Let’s go.” You put your arm under his as he stands up leaning heavily on your shoulder as you put both arms around him. “Release my droid. We’re leaving.”

“I had rather hoped us meeting again would go much better than this. I thought you would be happy to see me alive.” The old woman flicks her hand as you turn to go. You see HK start to twitch as he starts to come out of his stupor.

“You can rot down here for all I care.” You help Din as he limps towards the exit. HK raises his blaster rifle towards the old woman. “No HK, she doesn’t deserve any more of our time.”

“Aren’t you curious, Y/N? About where you came from? What has become of your homeworld? Your family?” You stop dead in your tracks. You hear the sound of amusement in her voice as she says this. She knows that you're desperate for answers. She knows that you will stay if she promises them. “Don’t you want to know about the child. ”

You stumble around quickly still holding Din. “I don’t trust anything you have to say to me, Master.” You hiss the word in her direction with nothing but vile hatred. You can feel Din getting heavier in your arms and you know he is hurt badly.

“Come with me. Bring the Child. And let the Mandalorian go on his way and I will give you the information you seek.”

“Never.” You turn and start to walk further away from her and into the darkness.

“Beware, Y/N, your feelings will betray you. They will be your downfall.” You don’t acknowledge her but just continue to walk with HK behind, blaster still raised towards the woman. “When you are ready, I shall await your return.”

You don’t look back but just keep walking trying to release the anger you feel threatening to bubble to the surface again.

—-♡—-

Din hasn’t spoked a word as you stumbled on towards the ship. His breathing becoming shallower and shallower the entire journey. You are practically carrying him by the time you reach the ship. You lay him down next to the small camp that you had set up and rush to grab whatever supplies you can.

“Number One, I believe the Mandalorian has suffered great internal damage. He currently has a minimum of 5 broken ribs that have caused great harm to his lungs.” HK says as he lifts the Child from his back and places him gently next to Din. The child starts to clamber out of the backpack. He sees his father and walks over placing one small hand on his shoulder. His ears droop down and he looks at you with huge, sad eyes.

“Okay, so how do I fix him?”

“Unfortunately, Number One we do not currently possess the proper medical supplies needed for such injuries.”

“What are you saying?” You say frantically as you begin to unclip the chest plate from his body. You try and move it over his head but he lets out a whimper of pain.

“Din, I’m so sorry, my dearest, but I have to get this off.” He doesn’t respond and so you continue to remove the layers of armor and clothes as quickly and as gently as you can. After a few minutes he is laying in front of you completely bare-chested and struggling for air. The child clammers around and tries to get your attention. He tries frantically to grab your hand and you continue to stroke Din’s chest waving him off, ignoring him.

“What do I do HK? How do I fix this?” Your voice is becoming hysterical as you move your hand along his chest. You can see some light bruising starting to appear along his already dark skin. But there is no external damage that you can see. You press lightly on one side and Din lets out a wail of pain that terrifies you to your core. His hand shoots up and grabs yours.

“Don’t.” He rasps. “I don’t think…” his voice trails off. “Promise me...the kid. You’ll take care...of the kid.”

“Don’t you dare talk like that, or I’m going to have to kill you myself.” You feel tears spilling over onto your cheeks as you look down at him. Din just slowly strokes your cheek with his ungloved fingers

“HK, where is the nearest medical facility? How quickly can we get there?” HK looks at you for a moment.

“I am afraid, Master, there is no scenario in which Din Djarin lives.”

You look at him and let out a horrible scream. You feel the air around you pulse with a new magnetic force and you can’t contain it. You scream so loudly you feel as if your lungs might explode. You scream until your voice grows hoarse. Then you stop and look down at Din, who’s breathing has become so soft that you can’t even hear it until you press your face to his helmeted forehead. A thought dawns on you and you take your hand and place it on his chest. You close your eyes against his helmet. You try and feel yourself healing him. You try to picture yourself healing his wounds, you imagine yourself giving your life over to him. When you pull back from his helmet you know you have failed as you hear a horrible wet sounding cough from under his helmet.

“I’m so sorry Din, I - I can’t save you.” You can hardly get the words out. You put your hands on either side of his helmet. And slowly you start to raise it. He puts his hands on top of yours but he doesn’t stop you. Then the child places his hand on top of the helmet. He looks up at you and you can feel him desperately trying to tell you something. Suddenly it clicks. You hurriedly bring him into your lap.

“Okay little one, show me how.” You whisper. You place your hand on Din’s chest and the child places his tiny hand on top of yours. You close your eyes. Then you feel it. It feels as if all the energy within you is being slowly drained through your hand. You can feel your strength leaving you and you know it's working. You keep your focus solely on giving everything you have to Din - every part of yourself.

Your eyes remain closed and you feel him start to sit up. You try to move to greet him with a hug but you start to fall backward in a haze of tiredness. You feel Din’s arms catch you from behind your waist and you lay there trying to regain your breath. You try and blink your eyes open but the fogginess pulls you further and further away. You can hear voices in the distance trying to say something but you can’t focus enough to understand what.

“Y/N, can you hear me?” You hear a voice and you try to pull yourself back. “Cyar’ika, are you alright?”

You start to blink your eyes open towards the voice. You open your eyes and see a person staring back at you. In the fogginess of your thoughts you instinctively try and scramble away from the stranger.

“Hey, hey I got you.” It’s his voice. Din’s voice. You blink a couple of times before you snap your eyes shut. You can’t form the words to tell him that this is wrong. His helmet is off. You are violating the code. You feel his ungloved finger trace the sides of your cheeks and along your brows. You hear him whispering something in a language you don't understand. “Hey, it’s okay.” You feel him trace your arms with his hand and tap at the armband. “You wear the signet of my clan, we are bonded Cyar’ika.”

Your breathing begins to get faster as you slowly peek one eye open and your breath hitches in your throat. And see him looking down at you with soft eyes and an even softer smile. You slowly open your other eye and you can’t believe it. He is looking at you. With his own eyes. His _own brown_ eyes. Your eyes dart around looking at all his features trying to absorb everything you can because you feel like this moment will be taken away from you at any second. You reach your hand up and begin to trace along his jaw littered with brown stubble. You run your finger up his sharp nose and twirl your finger around a loose strand of his brown hair which falls wildly around his face. You had pictured him a thousand times in your head, or at least you had tried. But you hadn’t come close to just how handsome his rugged features are. You bring a finger down to his lips and run it across them and before you can think about it you hoist yourself and throw your arms around his neck and crash your lips into his.

Din is surprised by the quick movement and even more surprised when your lips meet his. He freezes for just a second before pulling you in closer for the kiss. You are surprised by the warmth of his touch and the softness of his lips. This kiss is innocent and sweet and you are surprised by just how badly you had been craving it. You pull away and rest your forehead on his for a second as you both take a breath and smile into each other's eyes. He pulls you back towards him and closes the distance once again. This time the kiss is deeper and more urgent. You move your lips against his and part your mouth slightly wanting more. You move your hands into his hair and you feel him moving his hands up your back. You break away to catch your breath and giggle towards him. You look back into his eyes and lean up and kiss the tip of his nose.

“If I had known you were this handsome, I would have taken that thing off a lot sooner, Mandalorian.” You smirk at him as you tap his nose playfully. He doesn’t reply, just kisses you softly on the lips.

“Well this is a most unexpected, but most welcome turn of events.” HK remarks as he looks between you and Din. You chuckle at HK as you look down at the child sleeping in his arms.  
The child rolls over peacefully. You reach over and pull a blanket from the backpack and HK places him in your arms as you wrap him up. Din and you just look at him for the longest time as Din rubs circles on you back. You look over at him and see he is still completely naked from the waist up.

“Not, that I’m complaining but I’d rather it not take you almost dying to get you this naked again.” You look him up and down, not at all trying to hide your staring as you tilt your head to examine his torso more closely. You reach out and trace a nasty scar right above the waistband of his pants. You can feel him shudder beneath your touch and he grabs your hand and brings it to his face.

“I will try and keep that in mind.” He kisses your knuckles and then brings you face up to meet yours and you feel yourself melt into his kiss. Then it dawns on you and you pull back suddenly, eyes wide.

“What does this mean?” You motion to his naked torso and then tap his nose again as you ask, “Does this mean I am a part of your clan?”

“Yes.”

You grin at him and look down at the child. “Did you hear the little one, we are of the same clan now. A clan of three.”

“I do believe you mean a clan of four, Master.” HK injects.

You smile up at Din, then at HK and then at the Child. Your heart is so exceptionally full of love. A love you aren’t fully sure you deserve. A love you didn’t know could be real. A love that fills you so completely it feels like there can’t possibly be anything else left in the entire galaxy.

—-♡—-

Now that the helmet was off you really could not stop staring at Din. All afternoon into the evening as the three of you recovered from your earlier traumas you couldn’t stop staring at him. At first it had flustered him greatly, he was not used to being seen without the helmet, but under your continual gaze he started to grow comfortable. And every time he caught you staring he smiled at you with the biggest lopsided grin you’d ever seen. Finally as you both settled down next to one another to sleep with HK standing watch, Din looked at you with a serious expression as he tucked a loose piece of hair behind your ear.

“Cyar’ika, I understand why you may not want to tell me, but today...that woman,” Din voice trails off. He had avoided bringing up the topic throughout the day because he sensed you weren’t quite ready to discuss it yet. But his curiosity got the better of him.

“She was my master, at the academy,” you turn on your side so you can see Din completely in the moonlight. “She was the one who sold me. She deemed it necessary to save me, I guess.”

“She mentioned your brother. And your family?”

“Yes. She was the one who discovered me. Back on my homeworld. She told me she had helped rescue my brother and promised me that if I went with her that day we would be reunited…. but I never saw him again.” Your voice gets soft at the memory and you turn on your back to look at the sky. “I don’t think he was ever rescued. I think he died at the hands of the Empire. I think she saw my potential and manipulated me out of my home. Away from my family. I think she lied.”

Din doesn’t say anything to this only looks at you as you gaze at the starlight. After several minutes you turn to him and smile softly.

“I searched, you know, for records of my family. Records from my homeworld. But the Empire seems to have erased it from existence. I searched every Imperial database I could, every cartel. Everything, looking for any sign that my homeworld hasn’t been destroyed. That’s how I wound up in that prison where you found me. Funny, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“While I was searching for an old family I stumbled upon my new one,” You lean over and kiss his nose. You just lean over him and smile as you rub his cheek. He looks back into your eyes and you wonder what he sees, and for the first time you look at his eyes and know that he sees you and you see him. You let out a long sigh. “You think I should have listened to her.”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t trust that she would tell me the truth.” You reach over and trace along Din’s jaw, still amazed at how handsome he is - the wait had been worth it.

“We cannot stay here much longer,” Din notes as he looks at you. “I figure Moff will have hired out most of the guild by now to find you.” You shift uncomfortably and turn to look back at the star. “You know I won’t let them take you again.”

“I know.”

There is a long silence between you and you think Din may have fallen asleep, but you feel an arm slowly wrap around you and you turn so you are laying your head on top of it facing him.

“Whatever he wanted, he won’t get you. That I swear.”

“Can you promise me something?” You look at him desperately as you run your fingers along his jaw.

“Anything.”

“Promise me that you’ll kill me before I go back there? Do whatever you have to, just don’t let them take me alive.”

“Cyar’ika…” he mumbles into the palm of your hand. “You know I can’t…”

“Din, I am being serious. He wants me alive. He needs me alive. So he can use me for my power. Use me like a puppet. And I don’t know if I’m strong enough to withstand him. Not again. Please.” He runs a hand down the side of your face and you can see the sadness filling his beautiful brown eyes “Please, promise me.”

He doesn’t say anything, just gives the smallest of nods. You aren’t even sure if it is a nod, but you decide it's enough for now and lean over towards him. “What does cyar’ika mean anyways?” You pull him closer and kiss him, deeply. You pull away and bump noses. “Actually don’t tell me. I think I’ll learn Mandalorian so I can find out for myself.”

You can’t stop smiling at him. You feel so happy, you can’t believe this is real. You close your eyes reluctantly as you feel sleep overcome your body but you reach out your hand and make sure that he is right there next to you.

“ _But I don’t understand, Master. Why must I go?”_

_“My sweet, sweet child. You must promise me. Promise me that you will never speak of this. To anyone. Not a soul. Never show your gifts to anyone. Do you promise me?”_

_“But Master, I don’t want to go with them. They look like they will hurt me.”_

_“My dear, you must promise me.”_

_You nod your head slowly and feel tears start to fill your eyes._

_“Will I see you again, Master?”_

_“Yes, one day. When the time has come for us to meet again my padawan, we shall meet again. But much will happen between now and this time and you must be strong.” She reaches up and tucks a piece of hair behind your ear. You can see her dark grey eyes filled with a deep sorrow._

_You turn and start to walk toward the two rodians who are looking at you eagerly. You become so overwhelmed with a sense of dread that you turn and rush back in the warmth and familiarity of her arms. You sob into her arms for a moment._

_“Please don’t make me go.” You whimper._

_“Now come, child. You must.” She releases you from the hug and looks at you straight in the eye. “You must go now. Be brave.”_

_You think of one last question. “How will my brother ever find me?”_

_She looks at you with a great deal of sadness. “You shall be reunited with him in the next life. Now go. And my sweet child knows this -You will not remember all of it. But you must never speak of this day. Never trust a soul. And never let them know what you are.”_

You awake with a jump. You have to blink your eyes several times to calm your breathing.

You feel Din’s hand move in your own and you turn head sideways to look at him. For the first time the two of you had fallen asleep, side-by-side, hand-in-hand, his helmet and armor fully removed.

As you stare at his sleeping figure you can’t help but turn more so you can bring your hand up and trace along his jaw. You run your finger along his lips and you feel him stir. He slowly blinks his eyes open trying to see you in the darkness. You feel his hand reach up and take yours against his face.

“Everything alright?” He asks groggily.

“Yes.” You lie. You knew what you had to do. And you knew that Din couldn’t come with you this time. “Go back to sleep.” You reach across and kiss the tip of his nose. You feel him pull your hand slightly closer and you wait to hear his slight snoring before you try and remove it.

After several minutes you silently stand and start to gather your things.

“Master, it is very late. I suggest you continue to rest.” You jump when HK addresses you in the darkness. You immediately shush him angrily.

“Quiet! You’ll wake them.” You hiss at the droid. He looks between you and Din and you can tell he is questioning your actions. You ignore his staring and start to walk away from the camp. You can hear HK’s footsteps following you in the darkness.

“Master, I do think this you should wait until morning, as we do not know if it is safe - ”

You turn abruptly to cut HK off grabbing him by his metal arm. “I want you to do exactly as I say, HK.”

Din rolled over as the morning light hit his face and felt for your hand. He reached around but he couldn’t find it. He slowly peeked one eye open and saw that the space next to him was empty. He scrambled up to his feet grabbing his blaster and looked around the camp. The child looked up from HK’s arms but you were nowhere in sight.

“Ah, Number Three. I am glad you have awoken. There was a slight - “

“Where is she?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, sir.”

“What?” Din barks at him.

“She asked me to relay a message to you. She asked that you not follow her. But that you trust her. She is doing this for the good of the clan.”

“Where is she?” Din raised his blaster towards HK.

“She warned me that you may react poorly to this news.” HK stands and simply places the child on the ground and he begins to waddle towards Din, arms reaching upward. “She informed me that there is something she needs us to do while she is away.”

“I’m not going to ask again, HK.”

“She said that if you break it, you buy it.” There is a hint of sarcasm even in his robotic voice and Din knows that you would’ve trusted the droid to get the message across not to follow you, but he can’t help and wonder why.

—-♡—-

You approach her with caution. Your blade in your hand, ready to strike.

“Put it down child,” she isn’t looking towards you. She is sitting with her eyes closed, cross-legged, floating a few feet in the air.

You don’t lower your weapon.

“I am happy to see you again, my dear padawan.”

“The feelings aren’t mutual.” You spit at her. She lowers herself to the ground and slowly starts to stand. She doesn’t face you, only continues to breathe deeply. You grow impatient. “Why did you show me that memory?”

“You saw only what you needed to see, in order to understand.”

“I’m already getting sick of your riddles, Master.” You get closer to her with the blade still raised.

“That's enough.” She flicks her wrist and your blade goes flying out of your hand landing some distance behind you. You feel yourself about to react but then her hand reaches forward and you feel like you are trapped and you know she is holding you there. She approaches you looking you up and down as you try and struggle against her hold.

“You will listen to me. And then you will choose what path you must walk. Come, it is time to decide your fate.” She releases you and you collapse on the ground in front of you breathing heavily. Hatred roars through your veins and you feel the same rage start to boil over as your vision starts to blur.

“Be careful, young one. These feelings that have grown inside you will not aid you in the battle to come.” She says as she extends a hand to help you up.

“You keep telling me that there is something I must prepare for. But you aren’t exactly getting to the point.” You state frustratedly. She sighs when you shrug off her help and stumble up on your own. She turns and looks back over the large grassy plain in front as the sun begins to break into its dawn lighting.

“I know you think you understand what you are capable of, what the Jedi were, what the Jedi stood for but you do not.” She turns and looks at you. “It is because of the blindness of the Jedi, that the Emperor rose to power. It was because of the arrogance of the Jedi that he blinded them for years in secret, conning them into creating the army of their very destruction. And it is because of the Jedi now, that the Empire will rise again.”

You look at her in earnest, but you don’t reply. You hold your breath hoping finally you might be getting the answers you are seeking.

“You saw the history of the Jedi. They can claim no victory. They were never peacekeepers. Not in The Old Republic. Not in the Republic before. And they will not be in this age.” She lowers herself on the ground and sits crossed-legged staring forward not meeting your gaze.

“The Jedi Order has always been corrupted by the belief in its own power. They believe they are the sole protectors of the lightness in this universe. That is not true. Long before the Jedi there were others. Many others who could control the Force and wield it. I have studied many things in my time in exile, and I know this to be true - the Jedi cannot rise to power again. If they do, a darkness will rise to meet them that will consume this galaxy whole. And this time there will be no one left in the light to meet it.”

You continue to look down at her confused. “What does this have to do with me? I am not a Jedi. I never was.”

“And you shall never be.” She turns to look at you directly. “You must stay here with me and learn the abilities, all the abilities required, some the Jedi would use and some the Sith would use so that when the Jedi rise you can meet them and destroy them once and for all.”

You jerk your head up and stare straight back at her for a long moment. “I will not train with you.” You finally say. Before she can start again you turn to leave. “I will not fight in a war I want no part in.”

“You are a part of this war whether you like it or not.”

“I didn’t choose to be born with these abilities.” You snap at her.

“And yet here you are, in need of training.” She stands. And reaches out her hand. “Come now child, your first lesson must be to control these emotions before they consume you whole and destroy everything you hold so dear.”

“I don’t want anything to do with you,” you snarl through gritted teeth.

“If you do not come with me, then I will have to place my faith in the child.”

At this you grab your other blade and put it dangerously close to her throat. “I will not let another child be torn apart from their family. Not while I still hold breath.”

“Is that what he is to you? Family?” She pushes your blade aside and starts to walk down the hill. “Is that why you wear the Mandalorian’s sign? Because you believe you are in his clan?” It sounds as if she is almost laughing at you. “Come, you do not believe a Mandalorian can be trusted. Surely even you are not so ignorant.” You don’t follow her and she turns and beckons towards you asking you to follow her.

“You saw the history of the Mandalorians, child. You saw the destruction they caused throughout the galaxy. They believe in nothing, but war. And violence.”

“So do the Jedi.” You snap.

“And that is why they must be stopped. But it seems we have a bigger problem.” She turns and slowly starts to approach you again. “This attachment to the others will be your undoing.” As she gets closer she reaches out her hand and places it under your chin so that you are forced to look her in the eye. “Yes, I see it now. There is a great pain that aches within you. You do not know where you belong. And in your search to find it you will destroy everything you have ever cared for.”

“I know where I belong.” You say and you can’t believe your voice cracks. You can’t believe that after all this time she can still make you cry.

“No, you still long to know where your heart truly belongs.” She is still looking you in the eye, searching you and you want to turn away but you can’t, her focus on you is too strong and you know she is reading your thoughts. You feel tears spill over and begin to roll down your cheeks.

“You love him.” She states as she reaches up and wipes away a tear.

“It’s none of your concern.” You say.

“Oh, my dear child, of course, it is. This is not your path.” She strokes the side of your face and tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. “For you see, love corrupts. Love alters you. Love changes you. Love distorts your vision. It was love that brought about the fall of the Jedi.”

“What?” You take a step back from her.

“There have always been stories, stories of Jedi who choose to leave the Order because they believed love was a greater power. That the Jedi were wrong to throw aside those they cared for. The story of Revan and Malack for example. Two lovers cast out from the order. Seduced to the dark side and eventually they ended up destroying each other.”

“That’s not true.” You snap back at her.

“And what would you know of it, child? Have you studied the ancient texts?” She sounds offended that you would question her. You just look at her.

“It was a love for his wife, the belief that he could not live without her, that corrupted his vision and led Darth Vader to hunt down and destroy the Jedi. Including your brother.”

You take a few wild steps back and glare at her. She reaches out to take your hand again. “Your love for the Mandalorian is what will destroy you. In your search to save him, you will destroy everything else.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Then I have failed you.”

“You failed me the day you sold me into a life of slavery.”

“I fear there is nothing that I can teach you, the darkness inside is too strong. It has already begun to consume you” She turns and begins to walk away. “I must place my faith in the child.”

You react instantaneously to this. You flip over her landing next to the blade she had tossed aside. You grab it and put it next to her throat. “Over my dead body.”

“This isn’t a fight you can possibly win.”

“Let’s find out.” You challenge.

—-♡—-

“Anything?” Din asks.

“I’m afraid not, sir.” HK answers.

“I want to know the second you pick up any life readings. Got it?”

“You will be the first to know, Number Three,” HK assures him as he continues to look out over the grassy plain from the ship's ramp.

Din is pacing nervously around the cabin. The child following behind him as he paces making babbling noises up at him.

“I know, kid. But HK said that we need to wait for her. If she is not back by sundown, we -”

“Sir! I do believe I am picking up a new life form headed in this direction. It appears to be Number One. She is moving rather rapidly.” Din whips out his binocs and looks in the direction HK is pointing. Sure enough you are limping up over the ridge just across from the ship. You appear to be bleeding badly from your shoulder as you grasp it tightly. Din doesn’t hesitate as he takes off down towards your figure.

“Watch the kid,” Din barks at HK. He is running but it feels like he can’t reach you fast enough. As he gets closer he can see a huge gash across your face that is trickling blood down your neck towards the shoulder you are holding. When Din reaches you and he tries to take your face in his hands but you don’t stop moving, pushing past him. You just try and keep going, not pausing to greet him.

“Did you do as I asked?”

“Yes. You’re hurt.” You don’t acknowledge him, just push forward.

“We need to leave. Now.”

“Okay.” Din doesn’t argue with him; instead he leans down and grabs under your legs and hoists you up into his arms and starts to walk quickly back towards the ship. “Care to explain?”

“Escape first. Explain later,” is all you reply as he rushes you towards the ship and up the ramp. When you get inside he sets you down and you hear the child let out a shriek when he sees you.

“HK, if you see anything come over that ridge. Shoot it. I don’t care what it is. Din, get us the hell out of here.” You say as you collapse onto your back on the metal floor.

Din makes a hasty retreat to the cockpit and HK makes a stance on the edge of the ship with his rifle raised. You feel the child crawling onto your lap and you just lay down on the cold floor trying not to let the exhaustion overcome. You feel two little hands trying to reach out and touch your shoulder.

“No, no don’t. I’m fine. Don’t exhaust yourself, little friend.” You try and pick him up but you wince from the pain in your arm.

You feel the ship's engines roar to life. And you can feel a shaky lift-off and the ships start to jerk more than normal. You hear blaster fire from HK and the ship steadies itself and the ramp slams close. You feel yourself ascending into the atmosphere leaving the planet and it’s problems behind.

“I do believe, Number One, I may have hit your former master as the ship was taking off.”

“Good,” is all you say as you close your eyes but you feel two little hands grabbing for your head again. “HK, can you watch him? I don’t want him to wear himself out.”

“Certainly, Number One, though I suggest that we address the injuries you obtained rather quickly.” You feel the child leave your chest in squeals of protest as HK picks him up.

“I can take care of that.” Din chimes in as he descends the ladder. You let out a sigh of relief as you feel him kneel down next to you with the medicine kit in tow. You don’t open your eyes but you can feel his gloved hands tracing over the gash across your forehead and over the bleeding on your shoulder. “I’ve found the problem. You’re bleeding.”

You let out a small laugh and open your eyes to see your helmeted friend staring back at you. “That’s my line,” You hum in return.

He runs his fingers along your shoulder. “We are going to have to take this off.” He motions to your tunic. You blush deeply, you can’t even imagine what color your eyes must be but Din doesn’t comment.

“Here.” He helps you sit up so that you can remove your arms from your tunic and you are left in just your undergarments. He gently helps lay your head back down.

“What kind of weapon caused this damage?” He asks as he goes to start cleaning it and you let out a whimper of pain and start to squirm under his grip. When he goes to clean it out again you swat his hand away on instinct.

“Sorry.” You mumble. “Just hurts.”

“I know.” He doesn’t say much more as he cleans out the gash on your shoulder. You try and remain as still as possible. Embarrassed by your outburst and also wanting it to be over. After a few minutes you feel him place a batcha patch over the wound and you feel the instant tingle of relief as the medicine starts to work. He rummages through the medkit and finds a small vial. He lifts your head and tips the liquid from the vial into your mouth. “Should start to feel better now.”

“What was that stuff?” You gag on the after taste of the thick, green liquid. Din doesn’t reply as his hands run across your face and he looks at the gash above your eye. You immediately feel a warm rush start to fill your body, and all of your limbs start to feel heavy. Your head feels ten times lighter and it dawns on you that you had just taken some very strong pain meds. He moves to start cleaning the gash on your forehead but you turn away from him.

“This won’t hurt as much.” He whispers.

Without saying anything, you reach up and grab at the bottom of his helmet with the intention of taking it off. You aren’t sure what caused you to be so bold, though you were sure the drugs coursing through your veins must be playing a part, but Din reacts by grabbing your hand roughly. Years of stopping people from doing the same thing had taught him to react this way. You tilt your head slightly and bite your lip.

“I...I just wanted to see your eyes.” You whisper up at him. As you go to move the helmet up a little more he doesn’t stop you and together you lift it off to reveal his face and you let out a small sigh when you see his brown eyes looking back at you. You still can’t believe it. You tap his nose playfully and he smiles down at you sweetly.

“And the gloves.” You point. He raises his hand and tosses the gloves aside with a roll of his eyes. Then he takes your head in his hands and leans down a little too close and kisses the tip of your nose and your breath hitches in your throat.

“May I?” He asks as he leans back and begins to clean off the gash. You let out a small whimper of pain. After a moment he leans over carefully placing a patch over it before he kisses the now clean wound. “Better?”

“Yes,” You take his hand in yours and kiss his knuckles and smile up at him. “Much.”

“Now do you care to explain?”

“Oh right.” You shift awkwardly. “Please, don’t be angry. I had it under control.”

“I think these say otherwise.” Din runs his finger along your forehead down your cheek, to your neck, and to the wound on your shoulder and you shudder under his touch.

“Well, things got a little out of control at the end, I’ll admit that.” You smile up at him as he helps you sit up and goes to try and help replace your clothing. But you can’t help and notice a wild expression in Din’s eyes as he looks at your semi-naked body. You stare at him for a long moment and then move to kiss him, not really caring if your clothes are on or off. He kisses you back briefly but you feel his hands moving to help slip your arms back into your tunic. When he pulls away, you want to protest but your body feels too light. You look at him and can’t help but giggle at him.

“I take it the pain meds are working then.” You continue to giggle as you grab a hold of Din by the neck with your good arm and pull him down so he is practically laying on top of you. You can feel him tense under your grip.

“Yes, I think they might be working.” You whisper against his lips. You pull him closer and you wrap your legs around his waist and try to pull him as close as you can to yourself.

“Master, I feel inclined - “ You raise your hand off the back of Din’s neck and HK goes flying hitting the back of the ship with a thunk. You feel Din’s hand reach around as he places them on either side of your head.

“No,” is all he says as he puts your hands back down by your side and pushes himself off the ground. You let out a small whimper trying to wrap your legs around him tighter. “Not like this.”

He pushes off the ground forcefully and you have no choice but to release him as he stands. He doesn’t look at you as he turns, you can see that the child is still in HK’s protective arms, unharmed by the toss, as HK stands. Din takes the child from HK and you hear him say something but have trouble making out the words. He doesn’t look at you as he and the child descend the ladder to the cockpit. You go to try and follow them but as you try to stand your vision blurs.

“Master Din has requested that I make sure you are comfortable so that you may sleep off the effects of the medicine,” HK walks over to you and you are surprised that it is difficult for you to respond because you feel an overwhelming heaviness in your body. You feel HK place something beneath your head and lay something over you body. You can barely keep your eyes open but you reach out and grab HK’s metal arm.

“ ‘m sorry HK,” you manage to slur out. “I didn’t mean…” your eyes shut and you feel sleep overcome your entire being.

You feel a bump and without thinking you jump to your feet. It takes a moment for you to steady yourself. You look around and see you are still on the ship, though you had been moved to the small sleeping area. You reach up and touch your shoulder and it aches. You start to roll your shoulders trying to loosen your stiff body when there is another bigger bump. You trip over yourself and stumble against the wall. You get to the ladder and try and hoist yourself up but this time the ship jerks violently in one direction and you fall to the bottom with a yelp.

“Hey!” You yell up towards the cockpit. “What the hell was that?”

There is another violent jerk and you grab onto the ladder to steady yourself. You look back up and see HK poke his head out.

“We seem to be in a bit of a disagreement with another ship.” HK states. “Number Three requests that you stay where you are until further notice.”

Completely ignoring the droid you start to hoist yourself up the ladder. You reach out your hand and HK helps you climb into the cockpit. The ship jerks again and HK holds onto your arms to make sure you don’t fall over. You scramble up to the pilot's chair. You see red lasers firing past the ship and a helmetless Din frantically pressing buttons and switches.

“I told you to stay where you were,” Din says cooly as another laser hits the ship, and you all jerk to the side.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to die alone,” you quip.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Din hits a switch and the ship lurches to a stop and the ship that had been firing at the Razor Crest comes into the sight as Din blasts it in a small explosion. The ship continues to beep at him.

“Master Din, it appears we have sustained heavy damage to engine number 2. I suggest we make a very quick landing.”

“Thank you, HK,” Din says in a very sarcastic tone.

“You are quite welcome, sir. According to the ship's navigational computer we are a short distance from the Telos system. Shall I plot a course?”

“Yes, take the controls, HK.” Din turns around and looks at you. “I need to make sure she’s alright.”

“You’re letting a droid pilot the ship?” You look up at him stunned. He doesn’t reply, just takes your hand and leads you down into the cabin. He sits you down on the edge of one of the crates and pulls out the medkit. He remains silent as he slowly takes your arm out of your sleeve to change the dressing on your wound. Then it all comes rushing back to you.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt HK, I don’t know what happened. Wow. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable with all the -,” you motion to your body trying to indicate touching. ”I - those drugs...they were very strong. I should’ve stopped,” You look at him embarrassed. He doesn’t say anything as he pulls the bandage off. And you wince up at him.

“That wasn’t the problem,” he says quietly.

“What?”

“I - I didn’t want you to stop,” he confesses. You feel yourself blushing under his touch. And he lifts your chin so you are gazing back at his brown eyes. “I wanted to make sure it was you, and not the drugs. I wanted to make sure that you wanted this.” He makes a small motion between the two of you.

“Yes, I do.” You smile and just lean over and kiss him softly. “I’ve thought - well, I admit I have thought about you that way. A lot….actually.”

Din arches his eyebrows. “A lot?” You just giggle and pull him in closer and kiss him deeply. You can feel yourself starting to pull him closer and you feel his hands crawl up your sides and dip under your tunic. You let out a small moan as his gloved hands trace along your ribs and Din pulls back looking concerned. You are surprised by the sudden absence of his hands, so you open your eyes and look at him confused, wondering why he stopped.

“You don’t have a lot of experience do you?” You meant it to sound nice, but realize that it came across as mean. He doesn’t look at you as he starts to stand. You grab him by the shoulders and push him down to kneel in front of you. “No! I didn’t mean that! I just meant, we can take it slow. I think I could be a very good teacher.” You wink at him and he chuckles. He doesn’t reply just leans over and kisses your forehead.

“Are you going to explain these?” He runs his fingers over your forehead and down to your bare shoulder.

“Oh right….well, please don’t be angry with me but….I went back to see my old master.” You rush to get the words out as fast as you can. Din arches his eyebrows at this and you can tell he is not pleased. “She - well, she made me remember something. The day she sold me off. I knew it was her way manipulating me back. And I knew she would never speak if you came along and I also know you wouldn’t have let me go alone.” You wait for him to disagree but he remains silent and waits for you to finish. “So I went. But I knew if I was with her then you and HK would have access to the old enclave. It meant you and HK could sneak in and grab whatever you could.”

“Y/N…..” he mutters as he continues to run his finger along your shoulder. “That wasn’t very smart.”

“I know,” you wince at him. “But hey! I did sort of beat her. Minus the shoulder…. and face.” He doesn’t say anything else for a long time as he looks down at you. After some time he removes one of his gloves and brings it to your cheek and you close your eyes and lean into his touch.

“Promise me that you won’t leave like that again?” He says it softly but you can hear a tinge of pain. “The thought of you…” His voice trails off.

“I know. And I’m sorry.” You lean forward and place your arms around his neck. “I promise I won’t leave you again Din Djarin. Not until you make me.” You pull yourself closer and place your head on his forehead.”

“That may be a very long time.” He whispers into your hair.

You smile at him as you pull back and you playfully tap his nose before gently kissing it.

“I am counting on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT FINALLY HAPPENED. YAY! hopefully, the wait was worth it. there is still trouble insight for these love birds though, so stick around. trying to update weekly.


	10. x - the parting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The struggle to understand the extent of your powers finally comes to a head.

You are running as fast as you can. Blade out in front of you. Blindfold across your eyes. Your feet hitting the ground hard. You hear the blaster fire and so you extend your hand up and flick it away before you feel the chasm in front of you so you take a flying leap. You make a harsh landing and roll to try and stand when you hear another blaster shot. You try and react in time but it’s too late and it sends you stumbling back. You try and regain your footing but you hear him from in front of you sending his fibercord towards you and your legs are ensnared. And he starts to drag you toward him. You try to dig your blade into the ground but it's too late.

“Got you.” 

You can feel him press the blaster lightly to your ribcage as he swings his legs on either side of you so he is sitting on top of you. You let out a frustrated groan as he rips off the blindfold. You look up at him on top of you slightly annoyed. 

“I almost had it, you know.” 

He lifts off his helmet and beams down at you. “You keep missing me after the jump.” He says as he tucks a piece of hair behind your ear as you slump back into the dirt. “You need to -”

“Just get off me,” You start to shove him off and he lets out a chuckle as he stands to help you to remove the cord around your legs. “I don’t need a  _ Mandalorian _ telling me how to fight.” You wipe off your pants and take his hand to stand. 

“You’re getting a lot better, you know. A month ago you wouldn’t have been able to make that jump.” You look back to where he is looking and see the some 30 ft gap you had just leaped over. You just shrug your shoulders and turn to walk away. As you walk you start to wrap your arm again with the blindfold. You hear the familiar click of the helmet and Din’s footstep starts to follow you as you make your way back towards the ship. He doesn’t say anything, sensing your irritation. 

“Ah, Number One, an excellent job today. Would you like to review your training from today’s exercises?” HK greets you excitedly as you bend down to pick up the kid who is eagerly grabbing for you at his side. 

“Not now HK,” you mutter as you take the child and just walk to where your things were laid out next to the ship. 

You hear HK greet Din and try and tune everything out. You sit cross-legged. You try to focus solely on the child and the positive energy. You close your eyes and you can feel everything around you start to shift. You try and let go of the feelings of disappointment, of anger, of malice and ill will, and try and let the feelings of happiness from your family flow through you.

For the past four months since leaving Dantootine you and Din had been traveling from planet to planet focusing mostly on learning to hone your skills and avoiding detection. So far there had been only a few hunters that had managed to track the four of you down. But with your abilities and HK’s sensors, Din had made short work of them. 

“Would you like to go over today’s translations, Number One?” HK asks. 

You don’t open your eyes, just continue to float in the air with your eyes closed in concentration. This was a regular thing for you and HK. He would read you parts of the books taken from the archives on Dantooine. You would listen and absorb any knowledge that you found useful. So far most of the skills weren’t incredibly useful without a teacher to show you. So you were forced to learn through trial and error. And of course, Din had been eager to help you. On every planet the two of you would spend most of the day playing a game of tag - you were blindfolded, and had to make it back to the ship before he could catch you using only your skills from the Force. At first, it had been incredibly easy to catch you, but in the past couple weeks you had become stronger and had beaten him several times. 

“Today’s transcriptions come from the Jedi Code,” HK begins. You open your eyes and flip down with the child still in your lap. He squeals in delight as you land on the ground. You hand him to Din who is waiting for him. He nods at you as he takes the kid and makes his way over to the fire. He rarely sat with you during your ‘lessons’ with HK. Not out of lack of interest, quite the opposite, he was very interested in everything that had to do with you. He didn’t want to be a distraction while you were trying to learn. 

It turns out that you were easily distracted by the Mandalorian now that his helmet could be removed. That was about all you could think about when the two of you were together. How badly you wanted to rip his helmet off and kiss him as you'd run your fingers through his messy curls. How much you wanted to take the armor off and snuggled against his chest. Or lay side by side, hand in hand. Sometimes clothed. Sometimes not. Often laying naked next to one another as you aimless traced the scars on his torso as he played with your hair. It was because of this urge that the both of you had that Din tried to remain as un-distracting as possible giving you distance and space to try and figure out as much as you could from HK’s lessons. 

HK hands you the book and points to a page. “This is a record of the Jedi Code.”

“The code? Why haven’t I seen this before?”

“Because I had not translated this particular book, Master. This is the oldest of the books and it’s text is very difficult to translate. I had to relearn several languages in order to do so.”

“Thank you, HK.” You know that even being a droid he gets annoyed when you don’t appreciate his efforts. “What does it say?”

“I do believe the most accurate translation is:

_ There is no emotion, there is peace. _

_ There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. _

_ There is no passion, there is serenity. _

_ There is no chaos, there is harmony. _

_ There is no death, there is the Force.” _

You run your fingers over the old worn out page as you listen to HK’s words trying to understand them. 

“Over the next few pages it explains several key rules that the Jedi must follow in order to achieve a complete understanding of the Force. Shall I paraphrase them for you?” You only nod in his direction as you turn the page and see more words and a few rough sketches of what appear to be lightsabers. 

“The first is that a Jedi must be selfless in all acts. They must never give in to anger towards another lifeform. They must never give in to fear. And they must never give in to passion. The second is that a Jedi is to form no attachments. No personal attachment to possessions or to other lifeforms.”

“That doesn’t sound right…” You say as you look up at HK with a frown. 

“I’m afraid not, Master. The Jedi were forbidden from any personal connection to family members, as well as any and all romantic relationships. It was believed that these attachments lead to emotional responses in situations that required a level minded individual.” You frown down at the book. You don’t remember being taught to forget your family. You have vivid memories of wanting to see them so badly that you would cry yourself to sleep nearly every night. 

“In earlier translations we went over, I believe it listed several times that personal attachment ended with a Jedi being dispelled from the Order. Most recently personal connection led Darth Vader to commit terrible acts of treason against the Old Republic. Shall I recount more?”

“No, no I get your point.”

“I do believe that you have formed a strong personal connection to our clan,” HK notes. You look at him with an annoyed expression. 

“And?” You challenge him.

“It would appear this is in violation of the Jedi Code.”

“Well, it’s a good thing they are all dead then,” You say as you snap the book close. “I’m done for today.” You stand abruptly to leave. 

“But Master, I have not fin-”

“I said I'm done.” You toss the book down at HK’s feet. And make your way to a helmeted Din who is sitting down with his legs outstretched as the child happily chases some bug around his feet. You plop down next to him. Without even thinking you reach up and lift the helmet off his head to reveal a smiling Din. 

“That was a quick lesson,” he smirks at you. 

“It was just boring,” you say as you wrap your arms around his neck and you feel his arms wrap around your waist. You giggle as you close the distance between the two of you and kiss him eagerly. You don’t stop and let the kiss get deeper as you pull yourself onto his lap. 

“Excuse me, Master, should I take the child on a walk to allow for some...private time for you and Number Three,” HK was very good at interruptions to your amusement - but right now it was to your great annoyment. 

“No. It’s fine.” You say as you slide off of Din’s lap and in a spot next to him. “We should eat.” Then in a whisper so just Din can hear, you add, “I am sure we can find the time later.”

#####  —-♡—-

“I suggest you lower your weapons girl,” one of the hunters snarls at you. 

“And I suggest you lower yours.” You snap back.

You are surrounded by six bounty hunters, all with beeping tracking fobs in your directions. They had followed you into the city and cornered you in this small alley. 

“You have nowhere to run. Drop the weapons and we may yet let you live.” The lone female of the group steps forward with her blaster raised. You let out a hysterical laugh. 

“I know he wants me alive, fool,” You turn to face the back wall. “You are right though, I have nowhere left to run.” Without another word you run towards the back wall and use it to spring off of and backflip over the group of hunters landing with your blades crossed ready to strike. Before they can respond, you stick your sword through the back of one and use it to flip over so you can swing at the neck of the next. The two drop to the ground in an instant before any of the others can react. 

Then there is blaster fire in all directions and you know HK has finally caught up to you. You swing and hit one of the hunters in the knees before plunging your blade into his chest. You duck and send a bolt flying back towards the other hunters and they stumble back. HK makes quick work of them with his pulse rifle. 

You take a heavy breath and look at HK, “About time you showed up. They had me cornered!”

“I was not concerned with your inability to handle these amateurs, Master.” You let out a sigh and tuck your blade back on your back. “I would recommend we retreat with haste, as the local authorities appear to be on the way.”

You only nod and begin following HK out of the alleyway. You bring the hood of your cloak up to try and blend in on the crowded street. You weave your way through the populated street on Telos and you are about to make your way to the entrance of the city when HK pulls you hard behind a corner. You peek around and see a larger group of mercs making their way through the gate all with beeping tracking fobs pointing in your direction. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” you whisper. 

“It would appear that Number One that this larger group is also intent on capturing you.”

“Yeah, I think I figured that part out, thanks.” Several of them raise the tracking fob and slowly start to walk towards where you are currently hiding with HK.

“Please tell me Din made it to the ship,” you whisper, getting ready for a fight. 

“I have made no formal communication with the Mandalorian. So I cannot confirm that the two are safe.” You let out an exasperated sigh. 

“Remember whatever you do, keep them away from the kid. Keep them focused on me.” 

“Yes, Master, I am well aware of the mission.” 

You wink at HK and then stand and throw the crates you were crouched behind towards the closest hunter, who is thrown into the wall as his body goes limp. The reaction is instantaneous. All the blasters raise in your direction and you take a small bow in front of the group. You look between them and count 10 hunters. 

“Give up, we have you surrounded,” a human man yells. 

You just shake your head and bend your knees blades raised - ready to strike. 

“WAIT!” You hear a voice from behind the group. A man stalks forward carrying a small brown bundle in his arms. Your heart sinks when you look around and don’t see Din anywhere. “Now, I have the kid.” the man points his blaster at the small bundle, “But we only need one of you alive. So if you don’t drop your little act here, I guess that means he’s gonna get it?” 

You close your eyes and reach out with the Force. You try and sense the child but you don’t feel anything. You open your eyes with a wicked grin. This seems to surprise the man. You throw your blade towards him and it neatly cuts off his head. You continue to reach your hand out and the blade buzzes back into your hand. Several of the hunters shift uncomfortable as they look over and see the man’s body crumple to the ground, blasters still raised. 

“Now, you will let me and my droid pass. Or I will make examples of you all.” You point your blade towards the group. “What’ll be?” 

As if on cue you hear a blast and one of the hunters disintegrates. You groan as you take a running leap at one of the hunters. You jump and weave your way through the hunters slicing through three of them before making a running leap at the nearest wall and jumping to it’s roof. 

“I told you to go without me,” you bark at Din as you dodge another blaster bolt. He aims his pulse rifle to the group below. 

“There are a lot of hunters,” Din doesn’t look towards you as he reloads. 

“I got this! Go get the ship ready! We will be there shortly,” You reach down and yank his arm then flick your wrist back so he is standing on the opposite side of the roof. “Go!” You bark at him as you duck behind the crate. 

You look down and see HK happily starting to blast his way through since the remaining 5 hunters had been distracted with you on the roof. You close your eyes and feel the Force flow through you. You picture the men below and feel yourself grabbing him and throwing him against the wall. You feel one turn towards you and you grab his throat and start to choke him before throwing him into the other two hunters. You open your eyes and see HK walking over to the pile of bodies you had created and blast one of the hunters that was struggling to get out. He looks up to you on the roof. 

“Why didn’t you think of that sooner?” HK implores. You roll your eyes and jump down to join him. 

“We need to get back to the ship.”

“Right this way Master, I have the coordinates set.” 

You run behind HK. It’s too late to avoid attracting attention. Most people are ducking out of your way staring as you follow behind the droid. You run out the entrance of the city trying not to look back at the mess you had just created. HK leads you down a small path and you see the ship on the horizon it’s engines just starting up. You push yourself to run a little faster as the ship starts to lift off several feet off the ground, hovering there, waiting. You leap up onto the ship with ease and turn to make sure HK follows behind you. He stumbles and fails to make the jump so you raise your hand and guide him the rest of the way. He lands next to you and you slam the button to shut the door. 

“Much obliged, Number One.” You throw your blades down and the floor and climb the ladder. You don’t even wait to enter the room before you are yelling.

“I told you to watch him,” You yell. “I told you to get out of here.” 

Din doesn’t answer you as the ship jerks violently to the left and you fall down on your knees. You feel a rage start to build inside. The same familiar bubbling feeling and you take a moment to breathe trying to relax and let the feeling go. But the ship jerks again and you fly against the back wall of the ship and hit your head hard on the back of the ship. Without meaning to you release the energy building around you and you feel the wave crash over everything. You see the ship's control panel light up like crazy before going completely dark and you feel the ship start to sink towards the ground. 

You scream and reach out your hand. You know you must hold the ship from crashing down to the surface. You see Din whip around out the corner of your eye checking to see if it was you currently controlling the ship.

“You better hurry and get us out of here,” you say through gritted teeth as you focus all your energy on keeping the ship steady. You see Din start to scramble and push buttons trying to get the ship to startup. You hear HK enter the room and say something in your direction but you let out a loud cry as your hand begins to shake and the ship begins to tip forward slightly. 

“I can’t hold this much longer.” You gasp. 

You close your eyes trying to focus on keeping the ship secure and nothing else. After a moment you feel a hand take yours and you feel a slight drop before you feel the ship take off into the air. You look up and see DIn holding your hand as the sky behind him gets darker and darker.

“Let go, I got it,” he says softly. You let go completely and collapse in a heap on the floor. You just sit there a minute before you slowly roll over and see HK piloting the ship and Din lifting his helmet off to look at you. “I got you,” He says as he puts his arms underneath you and lifts you up into his arms. You stare up at him sleepily. 

“I would recommend that both Number One and Two take a rest as they both seem to have exhausted their energy.” 

You scramble around Din’s neck to get a look at the small pod. 

“Is he okay?” You look at Din frantically. “What happened to him?” You can see the small figure of the child. His eyes are closed and you can see that he is breathing slowly. 

“He’s fine. I think he may have been helping you out.” Din let’s you down on your feet as he gets to the ladder. You feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment at the fact that you alone hadn’t been holding the ship. 

“I - I almost killed us.” You stammer as Din tries to take your hand as he descends down the ladder. 

“What are you talking about? You saved us.”

“The ship. I was the one who caused the ship to malfunction. To shut off.” You look at Din wide eyed as he climbs back up to get closer to you. “I could’ve killed us.” 

You look down at your hands in horror realizing how serious the situation could’ve been. And suddenly you feel it again. A red hot anger that you can’t control and it consumes your thoughts. “All this could’ve been avoided if you had just listened to me,” You say as grit your teeth at him.

“I wasn’t going to leave you there,” Din takes a step towards you and you jerk back. 

“I told you I can handle myself. I told you to protect him,” You can feel the rage inside start to boil over and there is nothing you can do to stop it as you clench your fist. 

“He’s fine. You’re fine. There is no reason to be angry about it.” You can see there is a pleading look in his eyes. 

“Oh yes there is Din Djarin.” You step up and point your finger in his face. “I could’ve killed him. I could’ve killed  _ you _ !” Your voice is higher now and you can feel the energy start to shift around you again. 

“I wasn’t going to leave you behind,” Din says quietly looking down at the ground avoiding eye contact. “You should know that by now, Cyar’ika.” You don’t say anything but you close your eyes and try to contain the anger you feel inside. You try to control it, before it controls you again. You feel Din take a step closer to you. And you feel his gloved hand rub against your cheek.

“Why?” You stammer out as you try and close your eyes tighter.

“Do you really need to ask that?” You can feel him bring his other hand up to your other cheek. You feel him try and pull you closer, but some part of you doesn’t want to accept his words. Some part of you is telling you to run. And you feel the rage boil over.

Your eyes fly open as you see Din going flying back towards the cockpit and hit the metal wall hard. You can see a stunned look in his eyes as you start to fall on the ground. Both of you look at each other in a stunned moment of silence before he stumbles up to come to your side but you wave him back.

“Don’t!” You yell. “Don’t come near me. I can’t control it. I don’t want to hurt you.” You sit on all fours staring at the metal ground trying to get your breathing under control. You try and empty yourself of all emotion. Finally after several long minutes, you slowly go to stand. You look over to see HK and Din both looking towards you with quizzical looks. You don’t say anything just look down and try to retreat away from their stares down into the cabin. 

Once you hit the floor you feel the tears start to flow. You look down at your shaking hands in horror. You hadn’t meant to hurt him. You hadn’t meant to stop the ship. But somehow this power was controlling you and it was more powerful than you believed possible. This was hardly the first time you had lost your temper. But this was the first time you felt truly out of control. You look up and see Din staring at you with his soft brown eyes. You put your hand up warning him not to come any closer and he puts both arms up. 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Din.” 

“You won’t hurt me.” He takes one step towards you.

“I already did, I - I can't control this - this  _ thing  _ inside.” He takes a step, closing the distance and reaching out for your trembling hand.

“We are going to figure this out.” He takes your other hand and pulls you closer to his chest. 

“I could’ve damaged HK. I could’ve killed you. I could’ve hurt him,” You can feel the sob escape your lips and you bury your head into the safety of his cold chest plate. “I think my master was right, I think the darkness is too strong.” You start to fully sob into his chest and feel yourself cling onto him tighter and tighter. 

“Hey,” Din grabs you by both shoulders and pulls back so you are looking directly in each other’s eyes. “I know you, Y/N. I understand what you are capable of. You won’t hurt us. We are in this together, yeah?”

“How can you know? You don’t have these cursed abilities. You can’t hurt the people you _ love! _ ” You pause for a second and tilt your head. Both of you had just become very aware that you had used the word love for the first time. Although Din often spoke to you in Mando’a, and you occasionally asked HK to translate certain words or phrases, neither of you had said the word love in basic to each other before this moment. You look at him for a long moment before he brings his lips to your forehead.

“I love you too,” he mumbles into your hair. “And that is why I know you could never hurt me. Know you could never hurt him.” You are too startled by Din’s words to try and argue so you just wrap yourself around his waist and pull him closer and just stand there holding him as he rests his chin in your hair. 

“I love you Din Djarin. I really do.” You look at him and tap his nose once before bringing yourself closer for a kiss. You lean back and run your fingers through his hair and tuck a loose strain behind his ear. “But I’m afraid you have no idea what I’m capable of.”

He doesn’t say anything. He just holds you as tightly as he can as you sail through hyperspace. 

######  **—-♡—-**

For once you lay under the sun with zero worries about your surroundings. It is the first time in a long time that you felt completely and totally relaxed. Din had brought you to an ocean planet after you had commented on never having been to a proper beach. There was a small population nearby and he insisted that you spend the day here and do nothing but enjoy the scenery.

You aren’t sure when was the last time you had allowed yourself to do nothing. To not be worrying about the next task at hand, or to be worrying about just surviving the next hour of your life. For the first time in memory you breathe in the ocean spray and just relax into the sand beneath your body. You hear the familiar clicking of metal footsteps but don’t open your eyes sensing him approaching you. 

“I think I’ve decided that this is where I would like to live,” you hum as you feel him sitting down next to you. Din doesn’t respond but you can feel his gaze on your near naked body. As soon as you had seen the water you had stripped down to your underwear and ran headfirst into the water. Din had to hold the squealing child from following you as you dove into the soft waves. You realized quickly that your ability to swim wasn’t exactly the strongest, especially in such uncertain water. So you climbed back up onto the sandy shore and laid out on the warm sand completely unaware of any trouble around, wanting to be completely present. You aren’t sure how long you had been sitting on the beautiful beach, but it didn’t feel nearly long enough. 

Din remains silent next to you but you can still feel his gaze on you. 

“Is there anyone else around?” You ask without opening your eyes.

“You know the answer to that,” Din replies. 

“I do. But I wanted you to notice.” Din remains silent and so you roll over on to your side and look at him. You know what he is thinking and you just smile up at him. He reaches over and runs a gloved finger down your cheek, to neck, and down your side. You start to sit up expectantly. He brings his hand under your chin and you know he is looking at your eyes. 

“Are you sure there is no one else around?”

“Don’t you trust me by now?” You can hear a small sigh behind the helmet before he lifts his hands and takes it off revealing a tired looking Mandalorian. You don’t wait and sit up and wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him gently. You feel him wrap his arms around you and bring you closer to his chest. When your bare skin touches his metal armor you let out a small yelp and pull back. 

“Ow, that stuff is hot!” You point at his armor. “Wait, how are you not burning up in that?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t.” 

“Well, then take it off,” you say matter of factly. You can see the hesitation in his eyes as you feel his body stiften. “Din, trust me. We are alone.” You look him dead in the eye and smile. “Maybe you can teach me how to swim!” You say as you stand up and face the water.

There is a silence behind you as Din doesn’t move to follow you. You turn and reach out your hand. “It might be a good skill to have, when I have a house right here one day.” 

He smiles up at you sheepishly. “I - I….don’t” His voice trails off. And your eyes go wide at the realization. 

“Din Djain! You don’t know how to swim!” You exclaim in amazement. “Finally! Something the Mandalorian doesn’t know.” You can tell you crossed a line by the pained expression on his face and so you kneel down in front of him and take his face in both your hands and kiss him gently on the nose. “Hey, you are still the best Mandalorian I know.”

“And you’re the best Jedi I’ve ever met.” 

“Hardly,” you laugh. You give him a kiss before standing. “Where is HK, anyways?” You look around the small secluded strip of beach. You start to walk away from Din searching from the droid and the child, knowing that they two were likely chasing the local bug population. 

You hear a familiar voice behind you and see HK emerge from the jungle with the child in his arms. 

“Master Two has taken quite a liking to the indegious frog population,” HK states as he walks forward holding the squealing child out in front of him for you to take. “I suggest that he remain here.”

“Why?” You ask as you reach up and take the child into your lap who tries his best to overpower you with his tiny body and make his way back into the forest. 

“I am afraid that the local frog population will be depleted should he continue,” HK replies. You laugh at this and look down at the tiny creature.

“Is that true little one? Have you been busy taking care of the frogs?” He looks up at you with wide eyes before trying to wiggle his way out of your arms to try and return to his hunt. “I have an idea.”

You stand up with the child in tow and walk towards the water. The child stops struggling as you get closer. You set him down right next to where the water is meeting the sand. You extend your hand out and a tiny seashell zooms into you hand. You lean over and hand it to the child who admires it with huge eyes. You do it again and watch as a small shell zooms out of the water and into your hand. The child giggles in delight and extends his hand. You watch as several shells leap out of the water and come rushing towards your hand. 

“Very good little one, you are getting better.” You turn and look at Din who is admiring you from a distance with a small smile on his face. You wink at him and turn to continue collecting shells, happiness filling every fiber of your soul. 

**—-♡—-**

“I won’t be long.” Din straps his rifle to his back and turns to exit the ship. 

“I know, because I am coming with you.” You secure your blades and look up towards Din.

“I need you to stay with the ship. And the kid.” 

“HK can handle him. Plus I don’t trust you can handle yourself out there.” 

“Y/N - ”

“Din, I’m coming. This isn’t up for discussion.” You hear a reluctant sigh as he presses the ramp key and it lowers down. He motions for you to exit. 

“Don’t let anyone else on the ship. And don’t leave. We will be back shortly.” Din orders HK.

HK nods and leans down to pick up the child who is waddling quickly to catch up with you as you exit. “I shall await your return.” 

You continue to walk towards the outskirts of a small outpost. From what Din had gathered there was a job here that the locals needed a hunter with exceptional skills. You were low on credits and it was too much of a risk to take jobs within the guild since the price on both your head and the child’s head was more than any bounty in history. So the both of you had been taking odd jobs on odd planets in small settlements. Sometimes at random, and other times getting information from Greef or Cara or Wrex about where a potential job might be. 

You no longer notice the stares as you make your way into the town, having been with the Mandalorian for nearly 8 months it felt natural. You make sure your eyes are completely covered and pull the shawl up over the rest of your face, as an extra precaution. You follow slightly behind Din as you make your way through the market towards what you assume is the meeting point. You look over the stalls and into a few of the shops, knowing you cannot afford anything without Din completing this job. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a small figure bolting past you. You turn to see a small child running out of one of the shops as a large, fat Gamorrean yells in a language you cannot understand. The child is too small to outrun the droid from the shop that is sent out after them and soon they are being dragged back towards the shop screaming and crying. You turn to go towards them but feel Din’s hand on your shoulder stopping you. You don’t move as you watch the Gamorrean begin to yell at the cowering child then take out the all too familiar object and begin to hit the small girl who looks almost numb to the pain. And you know her because you were her. You don’t think and extend your hand and the Gamorrean goes flying back against the wall. You feel Din’s hand grab you and whip you around. 

“Not here,” he whispers urgently. “We don’t know who is watching.” You feel him start to try and guide you away but you wiggle out of his grip and make your way towards the child who is looking over in shock at her master as he stumbles up from the floor. 

“Hey,” you say leaning down. The girl looks up at you with wide eyes and tries to scurry away. “Hey, it’s okay. I am not going to hurt you.” You offer her your hand and she continues to just look at you with huge eyes. You hear a growl for somewhere in the shop. 

“Get away from her scum!” you throw your hand up and look at the Gamorrean who is frozen in place. You stand up and walk up to him slowly as his eyes search wildly trying to escape your grasp. 

“I would choose your next words carefully, slaver.” You release him and he collapses on the floor with a yelp and you turn back to the child. “Come on, I’ll get you out of here.” 

“You better be prepared to pay for her,” the Gamorrean is struggling to get up for the floor as two of his droids try to hoist his very large body up. “I own her.”

“No, you don’t,” you wave your fingers in front of his face trying to use your powers and he looks at you confused for a second.

“Yes I do,” he steps forward to try and grab the child but you raise your blade to his throat. 

“No. You don’t,” you suddenly become very aware of all the eyes that are watching the interaction. A small group had gathered in front of the store looking on with curious eyes. Several droids had stepped forward and raised their blasters in your direction. You can see Din towards the back of the crowd looking on, trying to find a way to get you out of this. To your surprise, the alien begins to laugh as he moves your blade away from his throat. 

“You are bold, aren’t you?” He takes a step closer and motions for the child to come to him and she looks at you with sad eyes but goes towards him. “Unfortunately your boldness is misplaced. I provide a better life for the younglings here. I give them opportunities they could never even dream of.”

These words fill you with a rage that you don’t try and control and you can feel the room begin to shift. You had heard these words every day growing up. You had believed them. And now as you look at the small girl all you can see is yourself. 

“Let her go, or I’ll have no choice but to kill you,” you whisper. You can feel the energy beginning to move and you know you cannot control it. 

“I think you may want to look around. I have you outnumbered. 5 droids with blasters to one woman with a blade.” He begins to let out a soft chuckle. “Come Bee, there is work to be done.” 

Without thinking you raise your hand and you feel it around his throat and you twist your hand. There is a grossly loud crack as the alien's head twists to a horrible angle and he falls to the ground, lifeless. 

There is a momentary pause as the crowd tries to process what just happened. Then all hell breaks loose. You feel yourself release another wave of energy and everything around you goes flying back. The crowd of people, the droids shooting at you, the contents of the shelves in the shop. Everything spins around you before being thrown violently backward. 

You look at the mess around you breathing heavily. There is the sound of blaster fire and you raise your hand and flick it back and you hear a yell. You jerk your head back to the crowd and see that it has hit one of the bystanders in the leg as it begins to bleed out onto the ground. Your eyes widen in surprise but before you can react four droids start to blast their way towards you. The rage inside is so strong you bring your hand up and send it towards them and see sparks start to fly as the parts droids are dislodged and sent flying in different directions. 

You turn to grab the child but you don’t see her. You start to shuffle through the contents of the shop. It is a complete disaster in the wake of your outburst. You look at the overturned shelves and to your horror see her little body trapped beneath one. You rush over and flick your wrist and send the shelf flying. You are horrified at the blood on her robes and you see her look up at you with glassy eyes and a little smile. 

“Thank you,” she says in a small whisper as you lean down and take her hand. 

“No, hey you are going to be alright, okay? Look at me,” you begin to feel hysterical as her little eyes close and her hand grows heavy in yours. “No, no, no, no, hey look at me kid. Please look at me.” You try and shake her slightly but you know it is useless. You can sense she is gone and you feel the tears starting to overtake you. You feel a hand on your shoulder and your instincts kick in and you send them flying back and you hear a thunk against the wall as you turn to see Din trying to scramble to get up and reach you. 

“Don’t,” you raise your hand to him. You aren’t sure if you can control yourself. You feel something inside starting to take over, something you know you can’t control. “Stay away from me.” 

You look at the crowd of people that had gathered and you see many had fallen, having been struck by the destruction you sent flying towards them. Others are trying to frantically help them as they are rushing to grab supplies to help and giving you a look of fear and hatred. You feel the emotions start to engulf you whole and you stand to look at Din. 

Then without another thought, you bolt. You run as fast as your legs will carry you for as long as you can. You don’t stop. You can’t stop. You just keep running. Past the ship. Into a wooded area. And you keep running. Until you feel like your lungs are going to explode. Until you feel like all of you is going to explode.  You feel your legs give out and collapse onto your knees. The tears start to stream down your face. What have you done? 

In a moment of anger you had hurt innocent people. You hadn’t been able to control the power within and because of that people were hurt. You had killed an innocent child. You had hurt others. You had destroyed part of their town. All because you had lost control.

What if you could never control this? What if your master had been right, what if the darkness was too strong? What if you eventually ended up hurting the child because you couldn’t control yourself. You if you killed Din?

This was not the first time you had lost control. But as you sat at the edge of the stream staring at the water you knew it had to be the last. You knew that it was no longer safe for you to be with them. You knew what it required you to do. And you felt your heart begin to break at the thought. 

You aren’t sure how long you sit there. But it feels like an eternity. 

You still cannot control the sobs as you sense him approaching, so you don’t turn. You don’t even flinch when you feel his gloved hand touch your shoulder as he sits beside you. For a long while, the two of you sit in silence. You don’t think you can talk to him, not now. Not without completely falling apart.

“You are getting better,” he says to you in a soft voice. You don’t turn towards him and continue to stare off in the distance at the calm water. “You can't....blame yourself, you were trying to do the right thing.”

“Stop.” It’s all you can manage as you bite your lips trying to hold back the tears. You hear the soft click and thunk on the ground next to you.

“What?” You hear in his unmodulated voice.

“Just stop.” You jerk your head towards him as you feel a wave of red hot anger fills your chest. You can see a surprised look in his eyes. “This IS my fault. Because of my abilities. Because I can’t control this.”

“Y/N…”

“No!” You bark at him. “Stop trying to make me feel better. I have the ability to hurt people. To kill people. Even the people that don’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve to die, Din, but I killed her.  _ I killed her.” _

The last sentence comes out as a wail and you are sobbing. You feel his ungloved hands as they twist around and try and pull you closer and you don’t resist. You feel him as he holds you close but he doesn’t say anything as you sit in silence, as you sob into his neck. After a long time, you pull back and look into his eyes. 

“No one else is going to get hurt because of me.”

“I know, we will figure this out. Together.” Your heartbreaks. He really does believe in you. He believes you can learn to control this. He believes in the good in you. But you know you can’t risk it. You know you  _ won’t _ risk it. You just look at him with huge eyes and let out a small sob. 

“I love you, Din Djarin. More than you could ever know.” He looks at you and tilts his head slightly. 

“I know,” he replies before leaning down and kissing your forehead. “I know, cyar'ika.” You lean into his touch. 

“I need to go back to the village.” You say suddenly as you go to stand up before you can change your mind.

“I don’t think that is such a good idea,” he mumbles as he stands and takes your hands. “The villagers….won’t be happy to see you.” 

“I understand,” you say. “But there is something I have to do.”

#####  **—-♡—-**

You had insisted on returning without Din in order to bury the small child yourself. HK agreed to accompany you but not before you had him secretly hide instruction on the ship for Din to find. As you turned to go to the village your heart started to break. You turn to look at your helmeted lover and you small son one last time.

The small creature looks at you with huge sad eyes and you know that he was aware of your plan. But Din looks at you, clueless. You stare for a longer time than is necessary but you can’t tear your eyes away from him. 

Finally, you feel HK’s hand on your shoulder and you turn to make your way towards the village. “Master, are you sure about this?” 

“Yes, I made my choice,” you bring the shawl to cover the rest of your face. 

“He will not take the information left lightly.” 

“I know.” The words catch in your throat. You try not to let a cry escape your lips as you continue to walk away from the ship. Further away from your home.

“He is very likely to follow. The probability of the Mandalorian searching for you stands at 99.4%.”

“I understand, HK. But this is something I have to face. Alone.”

“You are not alone, Master. I will accompany you every step of the way.” You smile up and the droid and feel a warm affection towards his loyalty. You knew you had to leave. You knew this was the correct choice. You knew that this was the only way to guarantee the safety of both Din and the child. But if it was the correct choice why was your heart screaming about it being so wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a bit depressing, wasn’t it? Sorry! This is much later than I originally thought, but this week has been ROUGH. The next chapter is currently being edited and will be published by next Sunday. (I PROMISE!) 
> 
> It seems silly to care so much about my fanfic with what’s going on in the world. 
> 
> If you can donate #justiceforgeorgefloyd  
> https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate


	11. xi - the master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find solace in your isolation until an old friend shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY this took so long. Just so sorry. I ended up having to go back to work, due to some of the legislative movements being made in my city by the mayor and city councils and such ( I work at a non-profit that fights for social justice reform in the prison system and the like) and it’s been a little insane. AND THEN because I returned to work before I should have --- SURPRISE I got the corna :( 0/10 do not recommend. so anyways it has been an eventful three weeks and I AM JUST SO SORRY i didn’t have the time to update. So without any more interruptions here is chapter 11 I really hope it was worth the wait :)

It had been just over a year.

One year. An entire year on this moon. You had managed to get yourself to this desolate forest moon, the wildlife - dangerous and untameable. Dxun. 

You were completely isolated. You had no contact with other lifeforms. Save for HK’s near-constant companionship, if that counted as another lifeform. There were also a few hunters that had managed to track you down here in your isolation but they had been too bold for their own good, and you along with HK had made quick work of them. 

Only a few very sparse native settlements existed of others wishing to not be found. You had avoided those by finding your own spot. It wasn’t much, just a small cave on the side of a rocky ridge that overlooked a grassy field with several small ponds. It was one of the few places where the forest cleared out just enough for you to actually see the ground. The rest of the time the forest was too thick and overgrown to even walkthrough. So you mostly stayed in your small corner of this moon, avoiding contact with anything or anyone.

You had been able to hunt and gather all that you needed. Thanks in large part to HK’s survival settings that helped to identify things that were edible and things that could potentially kill you.

Every day in the mornings you set out in search of food and fresh water. Every morning you loyally wrapped your arm with the mudhorn signet and then wrapped HK’s arm with his own. He had only asked why once at the beginning of your stay here why you still insisted he wears it. You had told him that it was the symbol of your clan. You had a feeling that HK could sense the sadness as you said this so he never brought up the subject again. 

You had become so much stronger in the Force since arriving here. Even HK was impressed by your abilities now, noting that your progress was beyond anything he could’ve predicted. Your understanding of the Force, and how to control the growing powers inside, had taken up most of your days. You spent hours pouring over the old texts with HK who would loyally allow you to use him as a target during your practices together. Because you were not fearful of hurting others should you lose control again, you would allow it to happen, and slowly over time learned how to better understand what you could do. You finally felt like you understood what the Force was, and how it connected all living things. But you were still so fearful of just what you could do should you slip up. Should you lose control again. That you kept yourself here, isolated, not allowing yourself to think about returning until you knew for sure that it was safe.

Today was like any other. You had found what food you needed for the day. Then you practice your skills with your blades with HK for most of the afternoon. And now you meditated for as long as you needed to control your emotions. To remove your thoughts from the one thing you always seemed to dwell on. The one thing your heart yearned for more than anything in the entire galaxy. You feel your chest tighten again just at the thought of him. At the thought of the child. The amount of anger he must feel for abandoning them. For leaving. For not even saying goodbye.

“Master, I do hate to interrupt. But I am picking up a life reading. It is approaching this location at a rapid pace.” HK had long since stopped calling you Number One because he sensed it reminded you too much of the two beings you missed most in the galaxy. You opened your eyes and glanced at him.

“It’s probably just a cannok,” you reach behind you and the blade comes rushing into your hand. “I can handle it.”

“Master if I may interject, it would appear this lifeform is...human.”

“What? That’s impossible.” You look out from the entrance of the cavern scanning the horizon. You don’t see anything down below moving towards you.

“This lifeform appears to be familiar.” That’s when you see the gravel from above start to fall lightly in front of you. You take a step back in shock. Then you hear it. The familiar buzz. And you reach for your other blade and it zips into your hand as she gracefully falls down into the entrance to the cave.

“Lovely to see you again, child.”

“Ki’rya,” You snarl.

“I can sense that your feelings haven’t changed.” She takes a few steps towards you and you bend your legs getting ready to strike. “My my...You are still so strong in the darkness. It consumes you.” She retracts her lightsaber and stares at you for a moment with her dead, grey eyes. “My dear dear child, you have been busy, haven't you? You are so much stronger. Stronger than even me, I’m afraid.”

“No, thanks to you,” You instinctively begin to circle her with your blades raised in front of you. HK has his blaster targeted right at her. 

“Shall I dispose of her, Master?” 

“No, I can dispose of her myself,” you growl. 

“Ah, yes. You have the arrogance of a Jedi but the anger of a Sith. You may finally be ready.” At this you look up at her confused, relaxing your stance slightly. There is a moment of silence between as you try and really look at her. She looks much older than when last you saw her, and there is tiredness behind her that you can sense like a great weight is pulling her slowly apart. She casts her lightsaber aside and looks at your arms outstretched. You look at her baffled as you relax your arms.

“I ask that you strike me down.” You are stunned by this and relax your arms. She takes another step forward and closes her eyes - ready for you to deal the final blow. You contemplate for a moment, and you feel the anger begin to rise to the surface. You think back on every night you swore your revenge on this woman as you lay in bed. You think about the things you had to suffer because of her beliefs. You raise your blade slightly as the anger begins to overtake you.

But then you think of him. And his belief in your goodness. His belief that you could overcome whatever darkness might consume you whole. You think of him and you lower your blades and turn your gaze towards the woman, looking her in the eye. 

“No.” You say, defiantly. “I won’t give you the satisfaction.”

“Fine,” she reaches out and the saber ignites. “Then we will do it your way.” 

She leaps at you and you dodge her. You raise your hand and send her flying back out of the cave. Ki’rya’s figure flies out the entrance and you swing your blades at your side before jumping out to follow. She lands on her feet part of the way down the hill and turns to run the rest of the way. You raise your hand and fling her forward so she goes crashing down, dropping her saber. She flips and turns until she lands at the bottom. 

You reach out and her saber comes flying into your hand. You leap and reach the bottom of the hill as she is retreating towards the forest. You don’t rush but instead stalk towards her as she limps further into the trees, injured from the long fall. She turns and tries to send a boulder flying in your direction but you repel it and send it straight back. She has to lunge forward and she falls on all fours. You ignite the saber in your hand and approach her, place it right next to her neck. She looks up at you through her messy grey hair and smiles.

“Strike me down, child. I can feel your hatred,” You look down at her with the saber at her neck and pull it back to your side. She sees the conflict in your eyes. “You have become more powerful than I could’ve ever imagined. You will be ready when the time comes to make the choice no one else ever could. Now strike me down and your training is complete.”

You look at her eyes and you see flashes of your family, of your brother, of your life in the cartels. Of everything, you endured because of her choices. And the rage consumes you whole and you plunge the saber through her heart. You can just barely see the hint of satisfaction behind her eyes as you retract the blade and her body crumples on the ground before you - dead.

You look at her body and you feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. But your guilt is outweighed by your sense of anger. You hated her. You hated everything that she stood for and yet you somehow couldn’t shake the feeling you have done something terrible. She was your Master and you had struck her down in a moment of anger. Was this not the path to the dark side? Was this not what all the warnings had been about? 

You look down at the saber in your hand and think of the Jedi. Of everything that their teachings had taken from you. You think of everything you had sacrificed. You think of him. You think of the child. You had let them down. You had let the darkness consume. And so you let out a scream as you throw the saber as far as you can.

It's a rage so terrible that everything around you begins to spin and you feel the energy leave you. You can only think of them. You picture them in your mind and you are filled with such a terrible cursed pain that you feel an ache to your very bones. And so you cry out wanting nothing more than to feel his embrace. To hear the child’s laugh. You want nothing more than to be near them. When you finally let go of everything you were holding on to, you hunch over on the ground you see that you had knocked over several large trees and boulders surrounding you. It looks as if there had been a small pod crash in the area surrounding you. And you don’t even have the strength to care at the sight of your destruction.

—-♡—-

“I am still not sure I understand the point of this exercise, Master,” HK had been helping you to haul a large amount of wood to the small clearing you had created last night in your moment of despair. 

“I know, HK.” You smile at him as you place the body on the large pile of wood. “It is a human thing, I suppose.” 

You give him a small nod and he walks forward using his torch to light the pile. He comes back to your side and places his metal hand on your shoulder. “I find you organics never fail to find ways of surprising me.” 

The two of you stand there as the flames start to overtake the body. You stare at the face of the woman you had come to hate. At the person, you had hated for so long and now that she is finally dead you feel nothing. You feel a hollowness inside yourself that you cannot identify. For so long you had dreamed of what vengeance would finally feel like, and now that you had it, you felt none the more complete. You were as lost as ever. 

“HK, go back to the cave. I’ll be right behind you...I just need…” Your voice trails off. 

“I understand, Master,” You have no intention of following him back to the cave. So once he is out of sight you pull the shawl over your face and start to trudge through the overgrown jungle. You knew how dangerous Dxun was, you knew it was unwise to wander without HK, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to care. 

You wander for several long hours. Weaving in and out of the trees. Examining old ruins that you’d been to a hundred times. You even pick a few of the non-poisonous flowers and try to weave them into a makeshift necklace for HK but it quickly fell apart. 

You are so lost in your thoughts that you almost don’t hear it. A blaster shot. And it’s close. You grab your blade from your thigh and run to jump into the nearest tree. You scramble up to the lowest branch and perch on the edge and wait.

You wait for several long moments before you hear a noise. It's a clanging of metallic footsteps. You hear a soft murmur. A child. 

“You tell me, pal, you're guiding me here,” You freeze. You know that voice. You never thought you would hear that voice again. Without thinking you jump from your spot in the tree and land directly in front of the armored man. 

You stand with your blades at your side and stare at the helmeted man with his blaster raised and feel tears spring to your eyes. Without thinking you drop the blades and run into his arms. He is surprised by this and you can feel hesitation in his arms as the wrap around you. You hear a squeal of delight and peek up to the green creature on his back who is clambering trying to get out of his seat in the backpack to get into your arms. You reach around and grab him and take a step back. You can’t believe your eyes. He hadn’t changed very much in your time apart and yet he seemed so much different. Bigger. Heavier. Cuter.

You swing him around in a hug. But he scrambles in as close as he can to your chest. You squeeze him and then turn to The Mandalorian. You reach for his helmet on instinct but he grabs your hand and stops you. There is a quiet moment where you can feel him just looking at you, taking you all in. He reaches up and runs his gloved finger along your cheek and down your arm where the dirty blindfold is tied to your bicep. And you feel him tighten his grip around your arm. 

For a minute you can sense his anger then his grip releases your arm and he pulls you in for another hug. 

“I thought you were dead,” he murmurs still through his helmet. You pull back and stare at the helmet and once again go to remove it. He stops you and just shakes his head and that’s when your heart breaks realizing that his trust in you is completely broken. 

“Din, I can explain. Please let me explain.” You put your hand on the side of his helmet. And look back at him trying desperately not to cry. “Please, let me explain.” The tears start to spill over and you feel the child start to grab for your cheeks. You look down at his huge brown eyes and smile. Without saying anything you bring him up so his tiny hand rests on your forehead. 

You can feel him reading your thoughts, searching you for where you had been. You try and tell him that you did this to keep him safe. To keep him away from you. But as you try and send these thoughts you see images. Images of the child and Din. Din holding the kid as he runs from a group of mercs. The child hiding in a basket as DIn is being tortured by a group of troopers. You see countless images of Din avoiding detection, of him being harmed, of him saving the kid. You see Din injured and alone. You see the child sacred. Alone. Needing help. 

You gasp as you pull him away from your forehead. Looking at Din through teary eyes. Trying to regain your breathing. You hand him the child and turn around not facing him and let out a tiny sob, biting the back of your hand to try and muffle the sound. After a moment you feel a gloved hand on your shoulder and you look at the Mandalorian.

“I am so sorry. I am just so sorry.” It’s all you can say and you stroke the side of his helmet and feel the tears start to overwhelm you again. 

“I must say, you were the last person I expected, Master Din,” you hear HK approach the two of you. “And little number two, what a delight to see you!” HK reaches over and takes the child out of his arms and you hear a squeal of joy and the droid starts to spin him around. 

“You kept the droid,” he says quietly. You nod up at him. “But not us.” Your heart absolutely shatters as Din walks and takes the child out of the droid's arms. 

“Din, please I - “ He holds up his finger to silence you. 

“I am only here because of the kid. I’m not here for you.” He says sharply. You want to argue. You want to scream at him. You want to show him just what you are capable of, but you don’t. Your heart is broken and so you smile at him. 

“Fine,” you wipe the tears from your eyes. “How did you find us anyway?”

“I - it’s - well, it’s a little difficult to explain.” He stammers. 

“Try me.” You start to walk back in the direction of your cave. 

“Last night, I felt something. And the kid did too. And it lead us here,” He says. You turn to look at him and arch your eyebrows. 

“Felt something?” 

“It felt - I am not sure - well - it felt like you were calling out to me. Like you were screaming for help.” He looks back at you and your eyes widen. “Did you do something?”

“I may have unintentionally used my powers to call out for you. Possibly.”

“Unintentionally?”

“I did something. Something I am not proud of and I may have accidentally called out for you. For help. I - well - I have been thinking of you. Quite a bit.” You stammer.

“What did you do?” He looks at you with interest. You bite your lip trying to think of something to say instead of the truth, but decide that you shouldn’t keep the truth from your friend.

“I killed Ki’rya.” You whisper so quietly you aren’t sure if he heard you. 

“I killed her.” You look at him again and can feel the tears start to spill over. You try desperately to hide just how vulnerable you feel. “I murdered her because I hated her. I murdered her because she deserved it.” 

He doesn’t say anything, only gets closer to you, and takes your chin in his gloved hand. 

“That does not sound like you, Y/N.”

“Yeah, well you have missed a few things, Mandalorian.”

“Then tell me. Tell me everything.” 

—-♡—-

HK leads the way back to the cave. You are a little embarrassed to show Din where you have been living for the past year. It isn’t much, and you are sure he will think less of you for living in such poor conditions. When you get into the cave he sets the child down who immediately begins to babble about looking at the few possessions you have laying around. Din stands in the mouth of the cave looking at the tiny space. You look up at him shyly. 

“I know it's not much, but we’ve made do.”

He looks down at you and nods, “I like it.” 

You smile at him and follow him as he examines your things alongside the child. The child finds one of the old Jedi books and tries to open its large binding with his tiny hands. HK bends down and opens it for him and begins to explain the translation on the page while preventing the child from eating the old paper. 

“How long?” Din asks you as he watches the kid.

“Mmm?” You tilt your head towards him. 

“How long have you been here?” He turns to face you.

“Oh well, a year and 31 days now,” You don’t make eye contact as you say this just stare at the floor. 

“You left a year and 41 days ago.” He whispers at you. And you are surprised he knows the exact number. A number you had been keeping track of too. “You mean to tell me you were here the entire time?” There is a hint of anger in his voice. 

“No, well yes, I’ve been here. The entire time. But I haven’t been relaxing. I’ve been trying to train myself. I’ve been trying to control myself. To control this.” You reach out your hand and the child starts to lift in the air and he lets out a giggle of delight as he slowly moves higher in the air towards you and The Mandalorian. He lands in your arms and starts to pat your arms - signaling you to do it again.

Din is silent as he watches you and the child. He turns and runs his fingers along the walls. He looks at the tiny ‘kitchen’ you had built with it’s few dishes. He looks at the small sleeping area you had made and then back at you

“Why?” He finally manages.

“I - it’s difficult for me to explain - I really wanted to -” 

“Why?” He asks again a little more forcefully, this time taking a step closer to you. 

“I know you must hate me. But I didn’t want to hurt you. I couldn’t risk hurting him. Every time I did something I felt this - this thing inside me that I couldn’t control. I couldn’t control what happened and who I hurt. And I didn’t want you to be next. I’m sorry. I knew you would never let me leave. That’s why I left when I did. But I - I didn’t want to. And I thought about you every single day. I mean that. I thought about you every single day here.” It all comes out so fast you aren't sure if he can answer what you said.

“You left us. We’ve needed you. But you weren’t there. I’m sorry but that’s not how this works.” You want to fight him. You want to tell him that he is wrong. But you know he won’t understand. You know that he could never understand the struggle that you feel.

“I did it to protect you. To protect him.”

“From what?”

“From myself. If I can't learn to control this - ”

“And leaving us. Leaving him has somehow taught you to control it?”

“I don’t know!”

“You left your clan!”

“I left because I couldn’t risk hurting you. I couldn’t risk hurting him! Not with this darkness that I feel - it’s the Jedi way.”

“You are not a Jedi!”

His words sting. But they ring true. And you know that as he glares down at you that you made a mistake. You don’t reply. You just look at the child as he continues to follow HK around the cave and HK explains some fascinating things about the rocks he is picking up along the way.

“You swore to him, that you would never leave him again. You promised,” Din says it coldly towards you. “How can he - how can we ever trust you again?” There is a long moment of silence before you turn and look at him. 

“You can’t.” It is all you can bring yourself to say before you turn and walk to the front of the cave and stare out at the horizon. You notice a ship off in the distance, which you think is very odd, in your time here you’d only seen one other ship. But you are so caught up in your conversation with Din that you shrug it off and turn to face him. “But you are here now. And I will help you. In whatever way you will let me, Mandalorian.”

It isn’t lost on Din that you don’t use his name. And he can see your eyes which are a deep blue, nearly black color. And he feels a tinge of guilt. He knows he can’t understand what you are going through. He knows that he can’t understand the power that you control and the burden you carry. But he thought, even if it was a vain thought, that he had meant something to you. You had made him believe that he was special to you. He thought you were going to be with his clan forever.

“I came because the of the kid,” Din states plainly. “He needs you as his teacher.”

“Is that...is that really the only reason you came?” You can’t help yourself from asking. 

“Yes,” He says coldly. “I wanted to know if you were dead. I have my answer.”

You only nod at him and turn to join HK and the child, deciding that at least one of your friends was back in your life, even if the other hated you. 

—-♡—-

You spend the following week showing Din and the kid around your rather small area of the planet. You try and help the kid as you show him some of the things you now feel comfortable doing, but he is not entirely interested. He is much more invested in the frog and bug population that populate your cave. Din hardly seems to notice you. He doesn’t speak to you unless you speak to him directly and at night he rests with his armor on sitting against the back wall of the cave.

He watches you as you sleep next to the child. The child now refuses to let you leave his sight for fear that you may never come back. So the child snuggles as closely as possible to your head making a mess of your hair which had grown out quite a bit since Din had seen you last. Din doesn’t want to admit it but he is amazed by your abilities. He is amazed at how much more in control you seem. How much more you are able to do. Not only that but your abilities in combat have far exceeded him. 

On the seventh day, Din stands by the mouth of the cave trying to pretend he is not carefully watching you as you chase the child around while he wears a tiny blindfold. You can sense his eyes on you as you get down on your knees and try to sneak up behind the blindfolded child. The child reaches his tiny hand up and you feel yourself freeze as he giggles and runs away from you towards Din. He reaches Din’s legs and taps them expectantly. He reaches down and picks up the child and removes the blindfold and the child laughs excitedly. 

“He is getting much better, don’t you think?” You say as you walk over towards them smiling. 

“Yes,” Din replies. 

“Are you hungry, little one?” You ask as you tickle behind his ear. 

“Perfect timing, Master. I have just finished preparing a meal for him.”

You smile and lead the way over to the makeshift table you had created. You sit down cross-legged and Din hands you the child as you put him in your lap. You notice that there are three plates as HK sets the food down. 

“You know, I’ve seen your face,” You look up at Din shyly. He doesn’t reply, only turns and walks back to the entrance of the cave. You look down at the kid who is eagerly reaching for his food and sigh. “HK will you help him?” You slide the kid out of your lap and get up to walk towards Din. He ignores you as you come up next to him and stand with your arms crossed. “I know you think you can ignore me forever. But eventually, we are going to need a plan. For the kid. For us.”

He doesn’t reply, only continues to lean against the wall of the cave staring straight ahead. 

“Din, please, won’t you at least try and talk to me,” you get closer to him and outstretched your hand hoping he will take it. 

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” he doesn’t turn his head to face you, remaining motionless. 

“Okay, but I have something to say to you,” You point your finger at him. “And you are going to listen to me whether you like it or not.” You can hear the sigh from underneath his helmet as he turns his head slightly to get a better view of you. 

“What I did was wrong. And I see that now. But - I - I just wish you could understand how terrified I am of myself. All my life I’ve searched for somewhere to belong. And I never found a place, until you came storming into that prison cell, and I felt at home. I left because I was terrified that if I hurt him or if I hurt you, I would never be able to live with myself. If something hap - ”

“Things did happen!” He turns suddenly and is standing above you. “Things happened and you weren’t there. You were here. Trying to - to what? Learn about The Force from a droid?” He sounds completely incensed. 

“I told you I was wrong. Why can’t you at least believe me when I say that?”

“Because you left,” he is still standing above you and you want nothing more than to rip the helmet off and look him straight in his eyes. His familiar brown eyes. “How do I know I can trust you? How can I know you won’t run off the second things get rough?” 

“You can see my eyes right? You tell me.” He looks at you for a long moment. You aren’t sure what he is seeing, but you know that all you feel is guilt and shame for leaving him and the child. For leaving your clan. You want him to know that you are still desperately in love with him. That you still want him. You still believe in the clan. That you need him to understand because you aren’t sure if you can go on knowing how much anger he harbors towards you.

“You told me you would never leave. You promised.” You don’t respond, instead, you step forward so you are right next to him and you take both of his hands. 

“I was afraid. And I let the fear control me. But not anymore. I am not asking you to forgive me. I am asking if there is still a place for me here. With you.” He brings his gloved hand up to your cheek and you know he is staring at your eyes and you hope beyond hope that he sees the love you feel. 

“I loved you,” he says as he runs his hands along your neck and down your arm. You can feel his hand wrap around the dirty armband and trace the rough outline. He lets out a long sigh. “I still love you. But can you promise that we do this together? As a clan this time?”

“Yes,” you put your hands on either side of his helmet and bring your forehead to meet his. “You are my clan. You are my home.” 

You both stand there for a long moment, cherishing the closeness of the other, even if there was still his shiny armor in the way. 

You look back at the horizon and see two more ships on either side of the first. And you immediately try and get a better look. 

“HK, those ships. Can you identify them?” You say suddenly pointing towards them. HK looks up from the child and out towards the sky. He gets closer to your side as he scans the horizon. 

“Master, I believe they are Imperial scout ships.” You whirl around and face Din. 

“They must’ve tracked you here!” You look back over at the horizon as see several tie-fighters breaking away from the larger scout ships. 

“There’s too many of them for the two of us. You need to leave. With him. I can hold them off, distract them enough, and give you time.”

“I - I can’t leave you…” You can see him take a step towards you. You reach out your hand and grab both sides of his helmet. 

“I promise, Din Djarin, I will find you again. In this lifetime or the next. I will never stop searching.” You reach up and place your forehead against his again. “I give you my word. If you’ll take it.” He doesn’t say anything. He just reaches back and pulls you a little closer.

“Master, they have deployed several ground troopers and are headed in this general direction.” You break away from Din and reach out your hands and feel both your blades come rushing into them.

“You need to go. Take HK. He can get you to your ship without being detected.” You begin to move towards the entrance. 

“Cyar’ika…” You feel his hand pull you back towards him not wanting you to leave after just being reunited. 

“You need to protect him. At all costs.” You nod towards the child. 

“What about you?” You don’t answer but just smirk at him giving one final nod with a wink before descending out the cave. 

“Oh Master Din, I would not worry about Master Y/N. You have not seen what she is capable of, but she can handle herself quite well now sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 3 more chapters planned for this baby, with the possibility of more if I have trouble fitting everything in those. I am going to try and update this before July 1st since I have work now and a little less free time. I also update my tumblr with life updates and such, if you would like to find me on there, so you know why I am absent. Okayloveyouallbye. 
> 
> PLEASE STAY HOME AND STAY SAFE. AND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WEAR YOUR MASKS!!!!!!


	12. xii - the hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hunt or be hunted.

For the first time, the jungle creatures that roamed Dxun were not an annoyance. They were aiding you significantly in finding the packs of troopers currently searching the jungle for you and the child. You were able to stay above the action, or hidden away in the thick underbrush and carefully and methodically take out the packs of troopers without much trouble. But there were a lot of them.

It appeared that Gideon had sent an entire fleet to search the forest moon. There were by far too many for you to defeat single-handedly, but you hoped you could keep them away from Din and the Child long enough for them to make an escape. So you did your best to try and lead them on a chase across the jungle in the opposite direction of the Razor Crest. You made sure that they were reporting back so that leaders of the troopers knew you were here and that they needed to follow in your direction. 

You know that you are thinning them out. But you can sense that they are starting to retreat, but why you can't understand. You were being careful in making sure to lead them on a chase. As far away from Din and the child as you can. So when you stumble upon the next squad, you stalk up close to listen in and figure out their plan.

"Hey Bravo leader, we found the targets. Why don't you circle back around and try to cut off the droid?" 

The troopers all let out a groan of disagreement. "Yeah, okay Alpha, send us the position. Should we capture the droid?"

"Please hold on for instructions on the droid, Bravo."

The troopers stop and all lower their weapons and a couple takes off their helmets to drink from their canteens. You can hear them gossiping angrily among themselves. 

"This is ridiculous. No way we find the girl and that kid in this jungle."

"Yeah, even if we do she'll just take us out."

"Hey, hey let's keep out spirits up here, troops." 

At this, you jump up and in a single stride stab one of them through the back as you use your other blade to cut one of the trooper's throats. All of them turn towards you surprised and fire in your direction. You stop all the blaster bolts and send them flying back towards the group hitting several of the troopers. Three of them remain standing and face you with their blasters raised. 

"Drop your weapons, scum." 

"Tell me where the droid is and I'll spare your lives," you say as you swing your blades in front of you.

"Drop your weapons!" One of the troopers says as they raise their blaster with shaking hands. You roll your eyes at this.

"Let's not do this," you say as you stand up a little straighter and lower your weapons. "Tell me where the droid is and you get to walk away with your lives." One of the troopers lowers their blaster and looks to the other two who seem to be considering the same thing. There is a sudden spark on the radio near one of their feet and they jump in response. 

"Hey Bravo team, go ahead and terminate the droid on contact. Let Omega team know you are headed their way." 

You look from the trooper to the radio and you can already sense how he is planning on reacting. So you throw your vibroblade flying and it piercers him straight through the skull. The one closest reacts and runs towards you sending a slew of bolts your way but you just stop them in midair before recalling your blade with your other hand as it cleanly takes off his head as his running body crumples to the ground. The third trooper stares at the bodies on ground and you point your blade towards him.

"And you?" you challenge him. 

"Please, here take it," he throws his weapon down and then tries to hand you his communicator. "It has the nav map on it. Please. I don't want to die. Please." He gets on his knees and raises his arms above his head. You reach down and grab the communicator and see the nav point marked not far from you. 

"You made the right choice," you say. You twist your hand, knocking the trooper unconscious. You look at the nav point and start to run towards it. It was no longer a matter of distracting them, but fighting them off so that Din and the child, and hopefully HK could escape. 

You continue to run through the thick forest, hacking your way past any obstacle, desperate to make sure they were okay. You can hear blaster fire ahead and so you throw yourself forward towards a break in the trees. 

Your heart sinks. You see Din and he is surrounded. There are at least a dozen elite troopers with their rifles pointed straight at him. You look around but you don’t see the child or HK. It’s just Din. And your mind doesn't think about anything else but getting to him - to making sure that he is safe. You try and remain hidden in the thick underbrush of the forest as you sneak closer to the group of troopers. You can see Moff Gideon standing at the front of them and your blood begins to boil.

“Now, you see Mandalorian, you cannot outrun the forces of the Imperial Army. I will not ask again. Where are they?” Moff Gideon is standing above him looking emotionlessly down at him.

Din doesn’t reply and so Moff signals one of the guards, the largest alien you had ever seen steps forward. He is at least three times the size of Din and he grabs him around the neck as he begins to growl in satisfaction as Din struggles against him. 

“Let’s see what you look like shall we,” Moff Gideon nods his head at the guard. And you extend your hand in an instant. 

You see the large alien drop Din to the ground as his wrists crack and twist backward and he screams in agony. You stride forward as the group turns towards you. 

“I think you’ll find that’s a bad idea,” you snarl as you raise your blades. 

“Ah, SQ92 how nice to see you again. Good of you to finally join us,” Moff Gideon ignores the guard that is still shrieking in pain just a few feet from him. Instead, he pulls out a blaster and shoots him in the head, silencing him. He motions towards his guards and they start to approach you. You close your eyes and focus everything you have on getting to Din.

You can hear the blaster fire but you raise your hand and you stop it all holding it in front of you for a second before throwing your wrist forward and it goes flying towards the troopers. You leap in the air throwing your blade out as it lands in the chest of the closest guard. You land on your feet and kick hard in the direction of the nearest guard and he stumbles forward and you plunge the blade into his throat. You continue to fight off the advancing guards, holding your own just fine, even against the group of elite troopers. 

It wasn't until there was a slight pause in the fight, where all the troopers seem to hear the same message, that you really looked up. To your horror you look up and see another one of Moff Gideon's alien guards, the largest you had ever encountered, at least five times your size in height and weight, dragging a droid behind him. And in his very large hand was a small brown bundle.

You scream and reach out your hand on instinct sending the alien flying backward. You don't think and run full force towards the alien across the small clearing not looking at anything standing in your way. As you approach the large alien Moff Gideon sticks out his arm trying to stop you. You are about to send him flying when he ignites a blade. It wasn't a lightsaber. No, it was black. You had never seen anything like it and so you stop and look at him with wide eyes. This momentary pause is all that is needed for Moff to distract you. Another one of his guards that you hadn't seen stalks up behind you and grabs you by the neck. You try and scream but he is strangling you. You grab the blade and dig it into his arm and he lets out a yell and drops you on the group. 

You try and scramble up and get away but he grabs at your leg. You try to fight back but he is too strong. You dig your blade into the ground trying to gain leverage but he is too quick and throws you across the clearing. You land face down in the small pond. You do your best to get back up but there is something wrong with your leg. You hoist yourself on all fours right before you feel him press his foot against the back of your neck preventing you from getting up any further. He presses harder and you aren't strong enough and slowly your face hits the water until it is completely submerged. You panic, and you begin to struggle as much as you can against him but he is much bigger and stronger. You feel yourself screaming from under the water. You begin to feel yourself losing consciousness.

Din sees from across the way that the guard has you pinned down and he continues to hold you underwater. He looks and sees Moff motioning to the rest of the troopers to follow him towards the awaiting ship. One of them has a small, brown package in his arms. He looks back and sees that you have stopped moving, and he makes a choice. 

He grabs one of your vibrobaldes that is stuck in the ground and throws it towards the alien st holding you down. It hits him in the shoulder and he cries out in pain. Din grabs the dagger from his boot and throws it towards the alien's head but he dodges it releasing you. You remain unmoving. There is some blaster fire from behind and the two men fall to the ground. Din sees a one-armed HK shooting towards the two. The large alien is still struggling so Din grabs the dagger from his boot and launches towards his throat digging the dagger as deep as he can. Once the alien falls Din grabs you out of the water and you remain motionless in his arms. 

“Master Din, Master Y/N needs oxygen supplied to her lungs. Immediately,” HK says as he scans your body.

“Do it!” 

“Only you can perform this operation, sir.” 

Without hesitation Din rips off his helmet and leans down and starts trying to breathe oxygen into your lungs. He starts to press hard against your chest while still breathing into your mouth. He leans back and does this several times, getting more and more desperate with each breath. Finally, he presses down much too hard on your chest and you jump up gasping for air as you throw up the water from your lungs. You continue to gasp for air as you feel DIn stroking your back and you try to gain control of your breathing as you cough up water. 

You feel overwhelmed looking at his face, trying to put together all the events that had just taken place. You look over at the wounded HK and realize he isn't holding the Child. 

“Where is he?” You say looking wide-eyed between them. Din remains silent as he brings you in close to his chest. You push him back and glare at him. “Where is he, Din?”

“I believe Master Din is avoiding the answer. The child has been captured by Moff Gideon.” HK blurts out. You look at HK and then to Din in shock. 

“No, that - we can’t - no he can’t be...gone?” Din doesn’t respond, just looks at the ground and you see tears filling his eyes. You fight against him and try to stand. “We have to go. We need to rescue him.” 

"Master, you are not strong enough," HK states. "You will need time to recover your strength." 

"We don't have time," you hiss as you try to stand. But you feel your head begin to spin as push away from Din only to collapse in his arms again. 

"HK is right," Din whispers. "We need to recover our strength."

"What are you saying?" You can feel angry tears begin to spill over. "Din, they took our son. We have to get him."

"And we will," he grabs you and looks you straight in the eyes. "I promise you we will. But you are in no shape to fight. And you are our only chance at saving him." 

"How did this happen? I thought - I thought I distracted them enough. I thought you got away. I tried. I did everything," you start to fully sob as you realize the gravity of the situation. The Child was now at the mercy of the Empire. You shudder remembering the things that Moff Gideon had done to you. And you know that you don't have a lot of time before they do the same thing to your son. And suddenly a wave of anger overcomes you, so strong it consumes every thought and every part of you. "Why. Didn't. You. Try. And. Save. Him." Your words are filled with venom as you push yourself away from him and stand. 

"You had one job," you scream and you feel the energy begin to shift around and you know that you won't be able to control what happens next. And for once you aren't even going to try. "They are going to kill him!" 

"Master, I would advise - " HK is thrown back. And you know you can't control it any longer and so you scream. You can see out of the corner of your eye Din takes cover from the onslaught of objects that begin to swirl around and things that are being thrown in every direction. And you can feel a shift. You want to cause this destruction, you want to hurt someone. Your anger is so strong that it overtakes any rational thought and you reach out your hand and feel it close around Din's throat. For a brief second, you all you can feel is anger mixed with anguish and it isn't until you see the fear in his eyes that you let go. And everything falls around you and you collapse to the ground on all four and start to breathe heavily, your entire body shaking. 

"Din, I - I don't know what happened. I thought I learned to control - I don't - please help me," you whimper out as you reach for him. You can still see him rubbing his throat as he looks at you. The fear hasn't left his eyes and you know it's your fault. But he slowly reaches over and takes your outstretched hand and pulls you closer to him. You don't fight him allowing him to take you in his arms.

"I promised we would figure this out together. And I meant that," he whispers as he pulls you face up to meet his. 

"But - but I could've killed you. And - oh god HK, " you whirl around and see HK several meters away sitting up and looking in your direction.

"Hey," Din pulls your face back so he is looking in your eyes. "Whatever happens, we do this together." You just look up at him as tears begin to fill your eyes and you don't think you can hold them back any longer. And so you pull yourself onto Din's lap and let go. 

You aren't sure how long you sit there in his arms but you are exhausted. You can feel Din lift you up and carry up. It isn't long until you hear the familiar clangs of the ramp, and you know he brought you to the Razor Crest. You open your eyes and tap his shoulder, surprised to see that his helmet is still off. 

"I can walk," you whisper and Din gently places you down. You stand to look at the ship you never thought you'd see again and take a deep breath before walking aboard. You can hear HK make some remarks about the state of disrepair the ship is in but all you can focus on are the small toys scattered everywhere. Another wave of sorrow passes over you and you feel the same shift in the energy around you begins to take hold. But this time you try and fight it as hard as you can. 

"Hey, not here," you feel Din's hand reach your and squeeze it tightly. "We only have the one ship." 

"Quite right, Master Din," HK remarks. "I would recommend you try your best to calm - " Din holds up his hand to silence the droid. You can hear HK mutter something and start to make his way to the cockpit. You clench your fist and take a few long deep breaths trying to calm yourself.

"Look at me," you turn and feel his hands on your chin and you slowly bring your eyes to meet his eyes. "This isn't your fault. We are going to get our boy back together. But we have to be together on this. Yes?" You only give a small nod trying not to let the emotions overcome you. You close your eyes trying your best to stay strong, knowing what needs to be done would take a strength you aren't sure you possessed. You aren't sure if you can control your powers well enough to take on an entire army. But that wouldn't stop you. Nothing would. 

You feel Din's hand run down your cheek, wiping away a tear. Finally, you take one final deep breath, pushing away all feeling, thinking only of the task ahead and you open your eyes and glare at Din.

"I just got him back," you whisper. "I just got him back and he took him from me." Din looks at you and is surprised to see your eyes had gone pitch black. "They took him. And I am going to make every single one of them pay," you growl. 

Din doesn't argue with you. He just looks at you and gives you a small nod, too scared to himself admit that your tone and your eyes frightened him. He knew now that you were powerful and capable enough to cause great harm to anyone who might get in your way. He hoped he might be able be a guide so that the destruction caused came to those that deserved it. And not to innocent bystanders. 

"I...kept your stuff," Din releases you from grasp and walks over to a crate. He opens it and you see the things you had left behind. Touched that he had kept it with him for so long, obviously believing you would come back, you walk over and place a small kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you," you whisper.

"I'm going to get us in the air. We need to regroup. Make a plan," Din looks at you, and you only barely acknowledge him as you run your hands along the dark cloak he had given you so long ago. He turns and ascends the ladder to the cockpit. As Din climbs into the cockpit he sees HK looking over the controls despite only having his one good arm. 

"Master Din, I am skeptical that this ship will be able to make it a great distance," HK remarks.

"It'll make it, HK," he says and he sits down with a groan. He runs his hand over his neck for a long moment.

"Master Din, I hate to overstep my bounds, but I am programmed, to be honest with my subjects," Din tries to tune the droid out as he starts to flip the switches and the ship begins to sputter to life. "She would have killed you today, sir. She is more than capable of it. I am afraid that if Master, Y/N is not carefully watched, she could do a great deal of damage. Even to those she loves." 

"Thanks, I noticed," Din rolls his eyes at the droid.

"Master Din, what you saw today was not her full strength. She is capable of much, much more. Even if she does not realize it. We must tread carefully or I am afraid you might lose her as well." Din turns to look at the droid wanting to ask what he means but he hears you approaching from behind. 

"I know where I have to go," both Din and HK turn to look at you. Din sees you have changed your clothing. You are wearing the black robes he had purchased and the long black cloak that had been too heavy most of the time before on your journey's. You had pulled up the hood so that it covered most of your face, but underneath Din could see your eyes - they were a bright, piercing yellow. 

"Take me to Nevarro," you say it in a way that scares the both of them. There is no emotion behind your tone. The usually bright and cheery way in which you talked was gone - replaced by the person standing before them. Emotionless. Empty. And so you just stare blankly forward. "Now, Din," you hiss, and without realizing it the switches on the ship begin to flick and the ship slowly starts to take into the air. 

"Should we discuss - " 

"No, take me to Nevarro. I know what I have to do. Our friends there will help me," you don't wait for a response as HK shakily takes the controls. You retreat from the cockpit not wanting to be in anyone's presence, needing to meditate, to rid yourself of the feelings consuming you. Din looks after you with grave concern.

"As I said Master Din, if you are not careful, you will lose them both," HK states and Din thinks he is starting to understand what the droid means. 

"No, we are getting him back," he says shaking his head as he flips some switches, and the ship retreats into hyperspace. "We are getting them both back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - ironically the chapter that has taken me the longest to write is the shortest. I don't have an excuse except for writer's block. please forgive me! only two chapters left! with an epilogue possible. thanks for sticking with me. I have a few more projects cooking, and I will be traveling this month. but I am hoping that will give me a ton of time to write and finish with my two favorite characters here. feel free to follow me on tumblr @perropascal for relevant updates. okayloveyoubye


	13. (viii) the team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you recruit some old friends to help get your littlest (and favorite) green friend back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you haven't forgotten about me. sorry. just sorry. i know i suck. reminder nearly all of what's written was written before season two, so it isn't entirely accurate to canon.

____♡____

You are looking at a large group of people huddled together. You walk forward to examine the people and see many are weeping into each other's shoulders. As you look closer you can see their eyes shifting color. You let out a gasp. You are back on your homeworld and these are your people - you aren’t alone anymore.

But there is something wrong. These people are cowering in fear. You look around and see armed men marching towards the group, blasters raised. A masked, cloak figure leads them. There are hundreds of them, and they enclose around the group. You look at the cloaked figure, there is something familiar in their posture. They stop in front of the group and reach up and rip off the mask.

You stumble back as shock fills you.

You are staring back at yourself. Your eyes are completely black and your face emotionless.

“If you surrender your little ones, we will cause you no harm. Struggle and we will be forced to cut you down.”

None in the group look up at your words, instead, they continue clutching their children tightly to their chests. From inside the group, a helmeted man stands and your heart sinks.

“I won’t let you do this.”

Mando is standing in front of you. His blaster raised in your direction. You are looking at him with such hatred. Your eyes are pitch black color. You ignite a red lightsaber and raise it towards him.

“Step aside, Mando,” Your voice sounds hollow' it's like you aren't really there. “Or you will not be spared.”

"I know you. You are not capable of this.” He lowers his blaster and takes a step towards you reaching out his hand. “I know you. I know who you really are, please, cyar'ika.”

You can see a moment of hesitation in your eyes.

“Then I am afraid you will die wrong.”

You raise your lightsaber and with one motion cut off his head.

You scream and feel the Force pulling you out of your surroundings, and you land on your hands and knees on the cold ground. Tears are streaming down your face. You can’t control your breathing. You try and sit up but instead collapse on the floor and pull your legs into yourself. You feel like a child again. Small and trembling in fear during the night. You feel a hand come to take and reach under your chin, and you stare back into a pair of cold grey eyes. _Her_ cold grey eyes.

_“There are many paths before you now, my child. You must choose wisely so that you can save everything you claim to love.”_

You jump up and clammer around the dark space. You can feel Din's arm reach out for you as you stumble around trying to regain control. You can feel the air humming with the magnetic energy of the Force. You take a couple of deep breaths as you collapse on the edge of the bed. You hear the shuffling behind you as Din's arm makes its way around your waist and he pulls you into his chest.

"You okay?"

"Yes."

There is a long moment of stillness between the two of you as you stare wide-eyed into the darkness.

"I know you are lying to me," you feel him murmur along the skin of your neck.

"How? You can't see my eyes."

"I don't need to. I know you."

At this, you turn your head and bury yourself into the crook of Din's neck. You had tried desperately to rid yourself of all emotion. To become a blank slate. Empty and hollow so that you could properly control the Force.

But your attachment to Din was magnetic. He did know you. He knew everything about you. You didn’t think it was possible to care so deeply for something or someone, but somehow you did. You cared for Din just as deeply as he cares for you. You wanted to know the safety of his embrace for eternity because it felt like the only true thing you'd ever really known in your life.

"Din, I need you..." you whisper in the darkness. You blindly feel for his face and gently run your fingers along his jaw onto his lips before bringing him in for a kiss.

"I'm right here, cyar'ika." He presses his lips against yours, and you feel yourself melting into him. After a moment you pull away and press your finger to his lips.

"I need you... to promise me something."

"Anything."

You slowly sit up and face the wall. You feel Din sit up next to you as he slides his hand gently up and down your back.

"If I can't control this...if you see me becoming something….dangerous. I need you to stop me, by any means. I need you to make sure I don't lose control. Ever again."

There is a long and heavy silence between the two of you. Your words hang in the air as you continue to stare blankly into the darkness. When he doesn't respond you turn and maneuver yourself so you are sitting in front of him crossed legged. You take his chin in your hands and bring his face close enough that your noses bump and you can faintly make out his outline in the darkness.

"I need you to swear. You are the only person who can stop me, so swear to me you will stop me by whatever means you have to, and I do mean whatever means. If it comes to that."

"You know...you have to know, I can't swear to that," Din whispers as he places his forehead on yours. "Please tell me you understand why I can't swear that."

"Din, you've seen what I'm capable of. If I can't control…if I hurt people..." your voice trails off and he kisses the tip of your nose lightly.

"I won't let that happen," he mutters as he continues to kiss down the side of your neck. You feel him wrapping his hands around your waist as he gently pushes you down onto the bedding. He doesn't stop kissing you as he swings one of his legs across and straddles you. His hands make their way up to your sides and dip under your shirt. You feel your hands trace along his toned chest and into his hair. You tug lightly at the nape of his neck and he moans into your mouth. You break away from his kiss and push him lightly off of you as he falls beside you. Din affectionately runs one of his hands up and down your torso before resting it on your exposed stomach.

"As much as I enjoy this, you can't distract me that easily, Din," you run your fingers through his hair and smile up at him sadly. "Promise me. You won't let me harm another undeserving, innocent soul. Promise you'll stop me."

"I'll stop you. But I'm not going to hurt you," you're about to protest when he kisses you softly. "You have to know I could never do anything to hurt you. I lo- " you can feel him shift uncomfortably beside you as he sits up a little straighter. He leans over you and stares down at you. "You're my life now."

"And what about your son we are going to rescue?" you smile up at him as you try to contain your tears. You rub his cheek softly and you can see him regard you with such admiration that you feel the tears start to spill over. He kisses your palm gently.

"He is just as much your son as he is mine," he whispers. "We are a clan."

You can't form the words to speak, so you just nod your head as you feel Din's thumb rubbing away the tears. The two of you sit for a long time just admiring each other. You allow yourself to just exist with him for a moment. Trying to forget all your worries. Trying not to think of the danger your son was surely in. You just wanted to exist here in Din's arms because it was the only place you felt safe. It was the only place you knew you could control yourself. You now know that Din was what grounded you, and he was the only thing that could keep you grounded. And so you clung to him here in the darkness, never wanting this moment to end.

"Din, I - I don't deserve this. I don't deserve you. I can't possibly be - "

"Stop," he whispers as he presses his lips to the corners of your mouth before placing a small kiss on your lips. "Before you, I - there are things I am not proud of. But with you, with our son, I am better. You made me better. Don't forget that."

"I didn't do….You are a good person, Din. Without me."

"I'm nothing without you, cyar'ika."

You don't say anything else, just continue to trace Din's features silently. You want to ask him what the future holds. If you succeed - WHEN you succeed you need to remind yourself - what would become of your clan? Would you still be on the run? Would you still be forced to return the child to his people? Would you still try and seek out the Jedi to further your training? You become overwhelmed in your thoughts and feel the room begin to buzz around you. Din can sense this shift apparently because you feel him move to pull you closer.

"Hey, just be here. With me," he whispers in the dark.

You don't reply but shut your eyes and bury your head into his chest and breath deeply. Din was the only person who could calm you, the only one who could help you control these abilities. And so you knew that you could never leave him or else you would be dooming yourself and others. At this moment you desperately hope he plans on staying with you after you rescue the child. Because just the thought of trying to survive without him has you feeling utterly lost and alone.

____♡____

"I don't think everyone here is going to be happy to see us," Din looks at you as you pull the hood up over your head, covering most of your face.

"Let me worry about that, you have a job to do. So do it. And take HK, you'll need him more than I do." You hit the button and the ramps start to lower. Din had given up on trying to argue with you.

"I don't like splitting up. It's dangerous."

"For them maybe," you smirk up at him, and he sees your eyes flash a brilliant yellow before returning to black. He grabs your arm so you're forced to look at him.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about," Din looks at you through the visor, but even then you can feel the intensity of his stare. "We can't afford to make more enemies. Not now."

"Who said I would be making enemies?" You’re still grinning at how worried Din seemed to be sending you out on your own.

"Master, I must agree with Number 3 on this. It would not benefit this mission to bring more hostile forces against us."

"Why don't you two focus on doing your part, and I will focus on doing mine, yeah?"

"Fine. But you need to be careful. We need you if we are going to get him back."

"And we need that intel. So do your job and find her."

You wrap the shawl around your face trying to conceal your identity as best as possible. You knew it would be useless - within minutes word of the Mandalorian and his partner would spread throughout the city and every bounty hunter would be on your trail. But you needed to play the part at least until you got close enough to show them who they were up against.

You can hear the tracking fobs beeping in your direction as you make your way across the streets. You can see many people retreating into their homes because they can sense the impending showdown. You can see the streets getting emptier as you get closer to the cantina and you can sense the many watchful eyes gauging your threat level. More were probably looking for the Mandalorian, figuring you alone would be an easy match.

As you approach the cantina a large group of unsavory bounty hunters block your path, when you turn around, you see a dozen more standing behind you. Greef makes his way to the front of the crowd and starts clapping his hands in a mocking gesture of false praise.

"I have to hand it to you. You and your Mandalorian friend have quite the nerve showing up here again." Greef takes a defensive stance in front of you pointing his blaster at you.

"I thought you would be happy to see a friendly face, Greef?"

"Do you have any idea how much the bounty on your head is worth? I could buy this entire planet! Hell, maybe I will when I bring you in."

"Aw, Greef, you're breaking my heart with talk like that."

"And I have the entire guild armed and ready to take you on - really think you can win this fight?"

"Actually," you turn your head slowly and look at the small mass of individual hunters that had gathered around you. There were more than you had anticipated. At least 50 hunters had their blasters aimed at you with smug grins. You just shrug and turn back to Greef. "I thought you would come better prepared, Greef. I’ll admit, I’m a bit disappointed."

He looks flabbergasted by this remark. You just smirk at him as you raise your hand and send the nearest dozen hunters flying back and hitting the wall harshly. You can hear the wall give way as the hunters’ bodies collide with it, falling to the ground and the wall crumples on top of them.

Chaos erupts.

There is blaster fire from every direction. You throw your hands up and block each bolt before throwing yourself up in the air and flipping so you land behind Greef. You pull yourself against him and stick your blade at his throat. The blaster fire doesn't stop immediately but you send each bolt back with a flick of your free hand. You can hear Greef pleading with them to stop shooting as you slowly back up with the wall to your back.

"This really isn't anything personal, Greef. Just trying to get my son back," you whisper in his ear as you pull the blade dangerous close to his throat.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Cara and Wrex warned me things would go poorly if I tried to collect the bounty on you and Mando."

"You should've listened to your friends."

"You can't blame a businessman for trying."

"Suppose not. Now call off your friends before I kill them all. I have a compromise they’ll want to hear."

Greef calls out loudly, begging them to stop firing. Most of them remain in a firing position with their eyes focused on you. But you hold up your free hand, holding just the one blade close to Greef’s throat with a sly smile.

"Friends,” you call out the large group of bounty hunters still all with their weapons trained on you. “I can see we got off on the wrong foot. I am only here to ask for a simple favor and in return, I will not kill you."

There is a chorus of uncomfortable laughter.

"I only need you to provide me with the location of the Imperial Destroyer Nihilus.”

The laughter dies as several of the hunters lower their weapons to get a better look at you. Many shift uncomfortably looking at the others to see if you were being serious.

“I’m going to give you 24 hours to return to this spot with the location of the ship. Or every single one of you will face the consequences.”

Now there is a hearty bit of laughter. Several of the hunters lower their weapons and take a few steps forward. A few more seem to shrug you off as another fanatic and start to walk away.

“I don’t recall making a joke,” you say through gritted teeth. You don’t want to have to kill any more of them. The more of them you send out to find the Destroyer the more likely you were to find it in a short amount of time.

“Girl, give it up. What could you possibly do to make us listen to you?” A man yells in your direction.

“Well, shit,” you hear Greef mutter before you remove the blade from his throat and shove him into the crowd of awaiting hunters surprising literally everyone, including yourself.

There is a moment of stunned silence because of your strange action and everyone waits with bated breath to see what your plan is, and you use this to your advantage. In one quick motion, you grab the blade still attached to your thigh and launch it across the way, sticking it through the skull of one of the retreating hunters.

The hunters all turn back ready to make a move but the man who had yelled in your direction is now grasping at his neck begging for his life. The man clasps at his neck and you twist your wrist and there is a sickening crack as his body goes limp. You extend your other hand and the blade logged in the alien’s skull rushes back into your hand. You swing both blades in front of you as the man’s lifeless body falls in front still wearing an expression of shock.

“I really don’t wa - ” you are cut off by blaster fire. You throw your hand up and stop the red bolt in mid-air and hold it suspended in the air. You can hear an audible gasp from a few of the hunters in front of you. You turn your head and see the hunter that fired the blaster and smirk before sending flying back in his direction hitting him dead in the cheat. “I will not be asking again. Bring me the location or I’ll kill each and every one of you myself.”

You can see a few more of them lower their weapons as if they are starting to consider it but the others are still looking at you with angry resolve. You roll your eyes.

“Sorry, Greef,” you say. He looks confused for a brief second before he starts gripping at his neck as his body starts to slowly rise in the air. A few of the hunters take steps forward as if they are ready to strike you down. As they do their feet start to slowly lift in the air as they start to cling to their necks in desperation for air. As a few more join the now half a dozen hunters suspended in the air it seems to register with the rest what is happening and they all slowly hold up their weapons. You don’t release any of the hunters in the air. “Well, you better get going. I would hate for you to be next.”

All at once, the necks of every single one of the individuals suspended in the air snaps, and their bodies fall to the ground. The remaining hunters looked shocked as the bodies fall into a gruesome pile. You look at them with a shrug and throw your hands in the air in a mocking gesture. Several of them jump back in fear and you grin at them wickedly.

“I said get going.”

They looked panicked as they start running away from the gruesome scene. You smile triumphantly in their direction as you reach down to one of the bodies in front.

“You know for a second, I thought you really might kill me,” Greef rubs his neck as he takes your outstretched hand nervously looking around at the pile of bodies.

“And I still might,” you look at him and you can see him take a step back when he looks at your eyes. “That information is vital. Get it to me in 20 hours. Or else I’m going to come back and finish the job. And I won’t spare you this time.”

“You gave the hunters 24 hours!” He looks at you with a flabbergasted expression.

“Well, you better hope one of them is quick then. And you better hope they’re as good at their job as you like to boast about. Your neck is on the line too, Greef.” You can see his hand flinch around his neck and you give him a smile and a wink. You know he can tell by the darkness filling your eyes that your threat is a serious one.

“I’ll be seeing you then, Greef,” you give him one last wink before making your way back to the ship.

____♡____

Din lowers his helmet and regards you for a long moment. You’re so busy adjusting the new goggles over your eyes that you don’t feel his stare until your eyes meet through your reflection, you stop fiddling with goggles and pull them down around your next smirking at him through the cracked mirror. Din clears his throat as he awkwardly shuffles his feet.

"I - I need to tell you something." He finally stammers out and you turn to look at him with a small smile. It was only in his presence that your eyes returned to their normal color. It was only when he spoke with you that he noticed the familiar flashes of color. For a brief moment, he saw them flash a beautifully bright purple before dulling to the now familiar grey as you looked at him. "There is a chance we will not be welcome here. More than a chance. I would expect resistance. A lot of resistance. Especially if you….use your abilities."

"I know what we are walking into, Din."

"I am not sure you do. Mandalorians do not take well to strangers. Especially if they see you as a threat."

"And do you see me as a threat, Din Djarin?" There's a hesitation in his reply that you can sense. His shoulders tense ever so slightly as you tilt your head toward him. You can see he is studying you, trying to understand what you are thinking. "I am not going to hurt them, Din. I gave you my word."

"I know. I just - I don't want them to hurt you. You aren't invincible, you know?" He takes your chin in his hand. "You have limits. Just like everyone else."

You look into his brown eyes and you see concern. You can sense the anxiety flowing from him. He had been nervous about approaching the Mandalorians for help. It had taken a great deal of convincing, but finally, he relented. And after pursuing the Armorer on Nevarro, she was able to help you in tracking down a small convent on this backwater planet. You run and finger down his cheek and admire his beauty - you hate that he had to cover his handsome face with the helmet, though you understood why it didn’t mean you couldn’t resent it for covering up his handsome features. You lean forward and kiss him gently.

"This is the way," you whisper against his lips with a smile. You feel his hand snake around your side and pull you closer. He kisses along your jaw and you relax into his touch.

"There's one more thing," he whispers in your ear. You wrap your arms around his torso and press your cheek to his cold beskar chest plate letting yourself get lost in the feeling of being close to him. "I need them to believe you are my wife."

You pull back and look at him, confused for a moment, before nodding in agreement

"Okay," you say. He seems very surprised by this simple, unprotested response and you beam up at his visible confusion and tap the tip of his nose with a giggle.

"You....don't mind?"

"If you tell them I'm your wife?" He nods and you laugh at his shyness. "Din, you are my clan. I don't plan on leaving you in this life again - not if I can help it. I suppose that would make me your wife eventually by Creed. Will, it not?"

"Well, good," he shrugs his helmet back on with a familiar metallic click. "Because they are going to figure out quickly that I have broken the Creed."

"I thought if I was in your clan, then it wasn't a problem?" He doesn't answer you as he starts to debark the ship. His silence is strange to you. He is never one to shy away from your questions, not anymore. So you stare at him expectantly, but when it becomes obvious that he is purposely ignoring you follow closely behind him.

"Din, did you lie about that?" You look at him curiously as you rush to catch up. Again, he avoids looking in your direction as he takes out the binocs to scope out the area. You pull on his arm to try and get attention, but he ignores you completely and with that, you have your answer.

"So, you need to be married in order for the helmet to be removed..." You say out loud trying to piece together why Din would've lied to you about breaking the most valued part of his identity. "But that day, you said that I was a member of your clan. That we were bonded."

"We are." He doesn’t glance in your direction as he says this, still quite focused on whatever he is looking at through the binocs.

"But you still broke the Creed?.... For me?" He stops and turns to look in your direction, you know him well enough to know that he is annoyed. "Why though? You didn't need to take off your helmet to save me. You didn't need to break the Creed - the Way. Why would you...sacrifice the Way?"

"Was the reason not obvious enough?"

"I guess....not, no."

"I am-," he stutters before he turns around and faces you. "I was in love with you."

"Oh."

You pause as you think his words over in your head. The last time you had told him you loved him was on the day you left him for your isolation. You are sure he remembers because you had thought of it every day since. He can see your eyes shifting color and he can see how nervous you look as you stare at the ground thinking over what he just said.

"I am still in love with you, cyar'ika," he mumbles softly. He puts his hand under your chin and lifts it so you are looking at the familiar t-shape. "If you'll permit me to."

"Din, that's a silly thing to say," you reach your hand up and place it on the side of his helmet. "Your love is the only thing keeping me grounded. I need you now more than ever."

Din slowly leans forward and places the cold steel of his helmet to your forehead.

"Then you would marry me?"

"You need only ask."

"I'll keep that in mind then," he chuckles softly as his hand slips down your side and clutches your hand. You nod as he leads the way into the unknown.

____♡____

"I said drop it, girl," an angry Mandalorian had cornered you, with his blaster pointed right at your chest. You look behind him to see Din lowering his blaster and relent to the grasp of the other Mandalorians aggressively surrounding him.

This meeting had not gone according to any plan or any scenario you had managed to plan for. Apparently, Moff Gideon’s reach was much longer than either of you had anticipated. So even here on this deserted planet on the edge of the outer rim, news of your very substantial bounty had reached this clan of Mandalorians. They were respectful enough to Din and his foundling, but according to Mandalorian tradition you belonged to no clan and therefore they could claim the bounty on your head. The red armored Mandalorian takes out a pair of cuffs and takes a step toward you.

“Don’t try it,” you snarl in his direction.

“Or you’ll what? You are not of Mandalorian creed. Your abilities are beneath me,” you look behind the Mandalorian with his gun trained on you to Din being handcuffed reluctantly.

You know Din is looking at you, pleading with you not to make this more difficult, but at that moment you hear the child cry out and you see him struggling in the arms of an Imperial soldier. You can see him there as if he is real as if he is there in front of you. You can see the soldier roughly place him in a cage and you can hear a mangled cry. You can hear him crying out struggling to get to his father. It’s like he can see you, he can see Din, like he is calling out to you through the Force. He needs you.

Any control you had maintained broke at the sound of his cry.

You throw your hand up and the Mandalorians blaster races out of his hand and into yours. In the brief moment of confusion, you thrust yourself forward and collide with his body knocking him to the ground. You reach into your boot and grab your dragger and plunge it into the gap between his armor and his undershirt, just barely above his shoulder. You can hear an audible gasp at your action as you twist the knife further into the ground, trapping the Mandalorian.

The small group of Mandalorians standing near Din are barely able to register your actions before you throw yourself onto Din and pull him on to the ground with a rough thud. You see all the blasters raised in your direction but you just wave your hand and send the group soaring back. You scramble off of Din and throw out your hand as your blade comes rushing into it. You don’t pause as you block one of the one coming attackers and send them flying back with a dull thud.

“You swore you wouldn’t harm anyone today.”

“And I’ll keep my promise,” you say as another Mandalorian comes flying over the ridge and sends a powerful blast in your direction. You raise your hand and stop it mid-air. Then slowly, painfully you close your fist and the blaster bolt disappears.

Din takes several startled steps back at this action. He had never witnessed you catch a bolt from a blaster in your hand and make it just...disappear. Every day you were growing more powerful and everyday Din was learning that might not be a limit to what you could do.

The red armored Mandalorian had managed to get himself away from your dagger. With your back still turned he jumped up and attempted to throw your dagger towards Din, but you could easily sense his action. You reach your hand and stop it mid-air. You let it hang there for a moment as you turn around and stare at the red armored Mandalorian. Then slowly you approach him bringing the dagger with you in the air. The Mandalorian tries to swat it away but you hold it steady.

“Who are you?”

“I am a Mandalorian by bond. You will help us. Or you will perish.”

“You are not a Mandalorian. You are a sorcerer. We will not entertain your kind.”

You feel the air around you shift and you feel the same darkness starting to creep into your fingertips. The Mandalorian slams against the wall and the dagger come up to the small exposed part of his neck. You reach out your other hand and your blade rushes into your hand.

“I am a Mandalorian by bond. You will help me and my partner find the rest of our clan or I will have no choice but to declare you a traitor to our Creed and execute you here and now.” You can hear Din call out your name as you raise the blade and something inside of you switches back on.

You take a deep breath and throw the blade down harshly. You wouldn’t harm them. You couldn’t harm them. You had given Din your word and you knew these people were innocent, these people were not your enemy. You start saying those words softly to yourself as you take a few steps back. The red armored Mandalorian collapses to the ground with a clatter of your dagger next to him. It takes him a few seconds before he begins to push himself up off the ground.

“It would appear that I am outmatched,” he is in a sitting position and he bows his head forward. “It appears your fearsome reputation is not unwarranted.”

You nod toward him but your mind is just foggy. You can still feel the air buzzing around you. You blindly start to reach back for his hand. You needed to know that he was there. As you start to frantically search for Din’s hand, panic rises when he doesn’t immediately greet you. You turn and see him looking at you.

You know your eyes are wild. You know he sees it. What is he staring at? Had you finally done something unforgivable? Something he would surely leave you for? You can see things start to shift around as panic takes over but Din quickly strides forward and puts both his hands on the side of your face and leans the cool metal of his helmet on your forehead.

“Be here,” he whispers.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean - Din, please I’m sorry,” you plead. You feel him pull back and regard you.

“What? No, I’m proud of you,” he exclaims. “You just took on a clan of Mandalorians, cyar'ika.”

You look behind Din and see the red armored Mandalorian regarding the two of you. He then reaches up and removes his helmet. You cock your head to the side. Din doesn’t seem concerned with anything other than you, so you quietly tap him on the shoulder and point.

As soon as Din registers that the other Mandalorian had removed his helmet he pushes you behind him and pulls out his blaster.

“Who are you? Where did you get that armor?”

The Red Mandalorian seems confused by the change in demeanor. He looks to you when he speaks.

“Is this you riduur?”

You only nod as Din pushes you further behind him trying to mask you from view.

“Where did you get that armor?” Din asks more aggressively as he tries to hide you behind him as a few more of the Mandalorian appear to be coming to.

“We did not respect your way of the Mandalore when our creed was sworn,” he motions to the group of Mandalorians slowly helping one another up. You notice that there are several different colors of armor, some remain helmeted, while others had removed their helmets and were examining injuries, all of them seemed to be regarding you with a great deal of disdain and you shrink a little behind Din. “However, Mandalorians have always been stronger together. Our strength is in our numbers.”

“There is only one way. The way of the Mandalore,” Din says this and you can hear a few snickers from the crowd now gathered. He still has his blaster raised as he looks between several of the Mandalorians confused.

“Please, brother, let us discuss. We are a tribe of Mandalorian clans struggling to survive. There are many clans here, of many faiths, including those who choose to cover their face as you do. We will honor your Mandalorian Creed. We ask that you honor ours.”

You reach over and grab Din’s arm and squeeze to get his attention.

“Listen to him,” you whisper. “We need their help. We are running out of time.”

Din lowers his blaster.

“Fine,” Din tucks the blaster back into his holster and turns to the apparent leader. “We seek help in rescuing the rest of our clan.”

“And we shall provide you with whatever assistant we can,” the Mandalorian bows his head and motions for you to follow. You nod at Din as you push past him to follow. He grabs your hand and pulls you to his side.

“Whatever happens, we do it together,” he whispers lowly and urgently. You look up at the t-shape.

“Together,” you agree as you take his hand the two of you walk together in stride.

____♡____

The plan was simple.

With the coordinates to the ship provided and confirmed by more than one of Greef’s hunters, your new team of Mandalorians would cause a distraction with their ships, engaging with them long enough for you to lead a boarding party consisting of you, Din, HK, Cara, Wrex and three other of the top fighting Mandalorians on to the ship to get your son back. It was bold but both you and the others agreed it was the best, and likely only plan to get him back.

Evidently, the plan was too bold.

Gideon had somehow been warned of your imminent attack and he had prepared for it. You were ambushed as soon as you entered the ship. Instead of being greeted by a worthless group of stormtroopers, dozens of death troopers were sent chasing after you. They had worked to separate you from the rest of the group, forcing you to use all your energy and strength to keep yourself safe from capture. You could only listen over the comms as the rest of the boarding party struggled against the onslaught of extreme force. The death troopers’ armor was practically impenetrable against your weapons and these elite troopers didn’t miss. So every shot your team took needed to count.

You were able to get around one of the groups by throwing two of them against the closest wall while you threw your blade across the way at the third one and it struck him through the skull. You threw yourself on top of another and stuck your dagger through his neck, but you were quickly overwhelmed by a dozen more troopers that pushed you further away from your party.

You did everything you had trained for, you used every ounce of energy that you had to try and make your way back to the others. But you failed. You could hear the screams and the yells. They were being swarmed. You kept pushing yourself beyond all your limits but there was no way you were going to be able to help the others. They were on their own.

And now you were outmatched.

You hear the unmistakable yell from Din over the comms as you hear them taking him hostage. You can hear Wrex screaming Cara’s name over and over. When she doesn’t reply you can hear Din pleading with them to let him go to check. You can hear Wrex’s anguish as HK’s scans for life readings, and the very clear negative in his reply. You can only listen as the rest of the boarding party is taken captive.

At that moment you realize Moff Gideon won.

You won’t be able to survive without Din. You won’t be able to control these abilities without him near and that puts everyone on this ship in danger. If you lost control now, it could bring the whole ship down. Even if you somehow manage to escape you wouldn’t be able to live without him. Without your son. Even if you are able to miraculously manage an escape with the child still, you wouldn’t be able to control the power. Not without Din, not without him there to keep you steady.

So you decide to take a calculated, and possibly a very stupid, risk.

You throw the blades down in front of you and raise your hands so the troopers can see. The blaster fire stops. There was a tense moment because they knew that you were still dangerous. You slowly moved out from behind the wall and get on your knees placing your hands behind your back. One trooper approached and before you could ask to be taken to Gideon he slammed his blaster rifle into your jaw and everything went dark.

You woke up in a tiny compressed cell with your hands bound by electric shock cuffs that made it impossible to maneuver your hands, even a little.

Now after hours and hours of sitting alone in the tiny cell, hours after being separated from Din and the others they were finally escorting you somewhere - you knew they were taking you to Gideon. You knew this was your last chance at getting your son back. You knew it was either you or Moff Gideon walking out of here alive. So you take one final breathe and focus everything you have on your abilities as the large bodyguard alien shoves you down on the floor of the large Imperial throne room.

“I’m sure you have many questions for me.”

You don't say a word as you look at the cloaked figure standing at the head of the room. He turns slowly in your direction and you see a wide smile appear.

“I am so happy we can meet again, I am sorry it is under such difficult circumstances.”

“Let me go,” you snarl as you try and fight against the restraints but fail miserably. “I’ll never join you.”

“Tino, would you be so kind as to bring our other guest here to join us?” you jerk your head towards the door and watch another large alien retreating out of the room. Your alien bodyguard doesn’t appreciate the gesture and grabs a chunk of hair and throws you to the ground, slamming your face into the cold metal floor. You grit your teeth as you let out a yelp of pain. “Yes, Fas, I think our guest is well aware of her situation, thank you.”

It takes some effort but you maneuver yourself up as you stare at the back of Gideon’s head as you turn your head and spit out some of your blood.

“You won’t change my mind. No matter what plan you think you may have devised for me to help you, I never will. Just kill me know.” He just hums slightly as he turns to look at you. You are not scared of him, but he is intimidating as he just stares at you for a very long moment. Finally, he starts to take slow, calculated steps toward the edge of the room as he begins to speak. 

"You see, my obsession with the Jedi began a long time ago on Mandalore when I oversaw its Imperial transition Before the Empire, their leader named Darth Maul. He was said to possess abilities that made him impossible to kill,” Moff Gideon strode around the small room and pressed a button. A metal slate at the back of the room rolls back to reveal a glass case filled with some sort of trophy.

“I did not believe in such a thing. In the so-called ‘Force’. In the Jedi. I had lived most of my life without ever witnessing one of their so-called magic tricks. Then I was visited by one of the Imperial Inquisitors whose sole job was to hunt down and destroy any remaining Jedi. And I was amazed at the abilities they possessed. I knew that this was the key to controlling the galaxy.”

“Apparently, the Emperor and Darth Vader did too. Because after I showed them this,” he ignites the darksaber and you have to do a doubletake with how strange it looks. “They agreed to let me lead the Inquisitors and destroy the Jedi.”

“Well, good job. They're dead. Now let me go.” You try to shove the massive alien off your shoulder but he grabs you tight around the waist pulling you into a standing position, jamming a dagger close to your throat.

“I think you may misunderstand. You see, I didn’t just kill the Jedi Knights that fled like cowards. I killed all the children Vader believed possessed the Force. I went to planets he knew harbored Force-sensitive children and I burned their villages to the ground.”

You tighten under the guard’s grip.

“You’re a coward,” you hiss.

“And yet here you are begging for your life."

You try and kick harder this time but it's no use with your hands are bound so securely you have no way to channel the Force. So the alien shoves you down to the ground and holds the dagger to your throat. You can feel the edge cutting into your skin as the blood starts to trickle down your neck.

There is a loud noise to your right and you can hear the shuffling of metal and thud.

"Ah, Mando, I am so glad you could join us. Please make yourself comfortable." Gideon motions around the room and you try to turn your head so that you can get a look at Din but the knife is pressed too close to your throat. You try and push against the alien desperate to see if he is alright. "It's alright, Fas, let her see what's become of Mando here."

The alien throws you down on the ground, and you land on your chin. You scramble to get on your knees and turn to see a helmetless Din laying on the ground. His face is bloodied and bruised. Most of his armor had been removed and he appears barely conscious. You get as close as you can to him fighting against the restraints.

"Din, Din, wake up. I need you here." You can hear the crack in your voice as a sob threatens to spill over.

"Wake. Up. Mando." You say through gritted teeth and you try to nudge him up with your bound arms. He rolls slightly to the side and you see one of his eyes open.

"Din, I need you here. I need you with me. Come on."

You try one last time to push him up with your body weight but fail and collapse in a heap on top of him. You feel a firm hand on your shoulder tear you away from Din, and you start screaming and kicking in every direction. You don't care who is near, but you use all the power you have left in your body to struggle against their grasp. You feel a punch in your gut and groan as you lurch forward. You feel another hard kick in the back, and you feel your face hit the ground with a horrible splintering noise. Your vision blurs as you try and fight back, but you feel the boot of the alien press harshly on the back of your skull, but you still try and fight against his crushing weight. You hear a shuffling followed by a loud grunt as two figures collapse next to you and the weight is suddenly gone. You turn your head and are forced to squint as you see Din laying on top of the alien he had just pushed off of you. You scream Din's name in desperation, trying to push yourself up, needing to help him. One of the large alien grabs him by the hair and throws him down and pulls out his blaster and aims it at Din's head.

"ENOUGH!" Gideon yells. You can't make out his shape through your blurred vision. "Tino, uncuff her. Bring her here."

You feel his rough hands grab you by the arms and yank you up. You don't take your eyes off Din as you continue to let out small sobs in his direction. You keep whispering his name trying to get his attention and struggle to get closer to him. You feel the release of the cuffs and you launch yourself towards his figure. You kneel over him and try and turn him so you can see his eyes and he can see yours. But before you can, you feel the alien grab you and shove you toward Gideon unceremoniously.

"So now, I am going to give you one last chance." You look up and see Gideon standing over you looking down at you menacingly. "As I stand before you in front of every lightsaber I have forcefully taken from a Jedi, from the Jedi that I hunted, from the Jedi I murdered and destroyed,” he indicated the rows of trophies behind him and you now see that on each self are rows and rows of lightsabers. Your heart breaks when you realize there must be at least 100 lightsabers behind him. All lined neatly in rows, displayed like trophies. Then you feel the anger start to boil within you and this time you don’t try to contain it. He turns around and nods at the man looming above Din. The alien grabs him roughly by the collar and drags him up to his knees where he sways uneasily. The alien points his blaster at the back of his head, and you let out a shriek.

“I give you this opportunity one last time before I kill the Mandalorian. You can join me and use your abilities to re-establish the Empire. You can help raise the child. Eventually, you will train him in everything you know. Together we can bring peace and prosperity back to this galaxy.”

You are about to say something terrible back at him before he raises his finger.

“If you refuse my offer, I will kill you and the Mandalorian here and now and be done with it. The child may live. But he will be raised in a life of servitude. Not unlike your own, I believe.”

You look at him in horror for a moment then down at Din who is helpless beneath the man’s aggressive grasp. You can hear his heavy breathing as he tries to whisper to you.

“No, don’t, I’m not worth - “ the man hits him harshly on the head. You let out a scream and stand trying to run towards the alien to make him stop hurting Din. But there is a firm grasp on your arm. You are turned around and face Gideon, who grabs you and presses a knife to your neck.

“Well, what is your answer? Swear loyalty to me and I can give you back your homeworld. I can help you find your family. We can bring peace to your people. And to many others just like you around the galaxy.”

He pushes you away and you hit the wall behind you. He turns and runs his hand over the top of his head trying to gain his composure. He reaches out his hand towards you. You look to Moff Gideon skeptically.

"You would give me my homeworld?" You lean your head in his direction, considering him.

"Arrangements can be made. Surely one of your reputation deserves a reward just as grand. You will become the new high senator. Your homeworld shall be yours once again. You can restore it and your people to its former glory." You take another step toward his outreached hand but stop.

“If I help you, you give me your word that you will help me find my family?”

“Yes. We can make sure that war never touches your homeworld again.”

You take another step closer to him. You don't look in Din's direction as you hear him start trying to struggle against the alien. You can hear him trying to call out your name but there is another sound of a punch and you try not to cringe away.

“You promise that when we find my brother he will be protected. That you won’t harm him. And any other xulkit that has my abilities, you will let me rule them as I see fit?”

“You have my word. Your family will be unharmed by the Empire. I promise they will be held in high esteem. And in due time, should you prove yourself worthy, the Empire will let deal with your people as you see fit. Even those who manipulate the Force.”

You take another step toward him and pause, looking back at Din.

"And the Mandalorian. You will let him go. And let him decide his own fate."

You can tell that this proposition irks Gideon. But he tries to wrestle a smile on his face as you move your hand towards his - ready to accept his offer.

"Fine. Yes. Release him." He waves his hand and you hear a few harsh breaths and a clammer as Din falls to the floor. "Now, come join me and let us build a better future. Together."

You take one final step so you are standing eye to eye with him. You aren't sure what he sees when he stares at your eyes but for the briefest moment, you can see fear. You examine his hand considering it for a moment, making Gideon wait on your next move. You can hear Din struggling against the alien trying to reach you as he calls out your name one last time. Suddenly, all your visions made sense. The moment in front of you now was what would determine your future. This had been what your Master had tried to warn you about. This had been what you had been preparing for, but there was never a decision to be made - you had always known your path forward.

You look at Moff Gideon and sneer.

In an instant, you know your eyes have betrayed you. He takes a few wild steps back as you throw up your hand toward the glass case behind him. You hear the glass shatter as an object rushes into your hand. You throw your other hand back and the alien holding Din back is thrown brutally against the wall with a loud thud. You push the button and ignite the saber in your hand and face Gideon. You look at him with a menacing look in the glow of the white saber.

**“I already have my family.”**

He reacts almost as quickly igniting the dark saber to block your incoming attack.

You heard blaster fire coming from behind you but you don't have time to help Din in confronting his attackers because Gideon is trained. Not only with a saber. But with minimal knowledge of the Force. And his weak attempt at pushing you back is successful mostly because you are completely caught off guard. You skid across the room and lose control of your saber as it bounces across the room. You push yourself off the ground and scramble to your feet as Gideon stalks towards you ready to strike.

"Vader taught you to use the Force," you yell toward him.

"How do you think I killed all those Jedi? Chance?" He laughs as he gets closer, and you reach your arm behind your back. "No, no, no I was trained by the strongest Sith to ever have lived. And now I will show you why he chose me to train."

He raises his saber again, but you reach around just in time to ignite yours and block his attack. The two sabers meet and you put all your strength behind blocking him. But he is stronger than you in your severely weaken state, and you can't hold him off. You reach your hand around and another object comes flying into your hand. You ignite the purple saber and swing it aimlessly, hitting just the side of his arm. He growls as he is thrown off.

You swing both blades in front of you.

"You're nothing," You hiss. "And I'm going to make you beg for death like the coward you are."

You throw up your hand and grab his throat. He starts to struggle against you and you can feel him using his abilities to try and throw you back. It is a weak attempt, but it is enough to cast you off and you stumble back. He casts the darksaber in your direction before leaping towards you and kicking you hard in the jaw.

You sink to the ground, and the purple saber goes rushing out of your hand. Without thinking you throw your hand up and freeze Moff in stasis. He stares at you in shock as he tries to move his limbs. You concentrate to hold him there for as long as you can as you struggle to get your saber.

Once ignited, you rush towards him and kick him in the groin and he falls to the ground. He throws his hands up and launches himself a few feet back from you. He ignites the darksaber and tries to throw it towards you, but you block it easily, You can see the visible confusion on his face at how easily you're able to block his attack. You reach out your other hand and the white saber comes rushing in. You ignite it and leap forward to stab him through the foot, and he screams in pain, dropping to the floor.

You kick the darksaber out from his hand. He tries to run away, but you stab him through the back of the leg, and he screams again. He tries to turn to lock at you, so you deliberately and painfully pull the saber out of his leg and let him try and escape.

“If you kill me there will be no way off the ship. They will kill you.”

He pleads as he holds his bleeding legs trying to crawl away from your hulking figure.

“If you spare me there will be a great reward in it for you. For the Mandalorian. For the Child even.”

You remain silent as you continue to stalk forward with the lightsaber raised as he backs himself into a corner, and slumps down against the wall looking desperately around for any means of escape.

“Striking me down unarmed is not the Jedi way. Surely you know that you cannot kill an unarmed individual. You must follow the Jedi code.”

You look at him and raise the saber.

“I am no Jedi.”

You strike the saber straight through his chest. You hear one last surprised yelp before his body goes slack. You drag the lightsaber across his chest and lift it out before retracting the blade and turning to face the room. There are two dead alien bodyguards and next to that you see the Mandalorian laying face up on the ground. You run over to him and drop to your knees.

“Hey, it's me,” you place hands on either side of his face when he doesn't immediately say anything. He doesn't respond to your touch so you reach down and feel his chest to see if he is still breathing. "Din, please, I need you. You can't just leave me."

Din lets out a wet cough and you sigh in relief.

“Yeah just got the wind knocked out of me.” You pull him up into your arms for an awkward embrace as you run your fingers through his hair. He is in bad shape. His face is so swollen and bloodied you can barely recognize that he is your Mandalorian. As you try and help him stand he winces in pain and lets out a groan falling back. You hook your arm around him and try and pull him up but he doesn't move.

“We need to go. Can you stand?” He answers by slumping down further in your arms and not moving to stand. "Din, please we need to go."

You plead with him as you once again try and hoist him up but he lets out a sharp yell of pain and you know the answer. You run your fingers over his face and his jaw as you feel tears start to flow down your cheeks.

"I'm not leaving you. Not now. Not ever."

"You need to go. You need to save him. For both of us."

"Din. I'm not leaving you."

"But you need to. Destroy this ship. Let them know you were here."

There is a part of you that knows he is right. You need to get to your kid. You need to end this as quickly as you can so you can call off the remaining Mandalorians. But you can't. You cannot force yourself to leave Din's side.

"I need you," you whisper as you cradle his head in your hands. "I can't control this without you."

"You're going to have to try. For him." You lean down and press your forehead to his as you start to sob.

"Din, please," you plead. 

"You don't have a lot of time." He reaches over and yanks off his pauldron. "You give this to him. When he's old enough."

You take the pauldron and run your finger over the signet of your clan. You look back at Din with huge, wet eyes. There is so much you still needed to tell him. So many things you still haven't asked him. You had never asked him about his home planet and what he remembered there. You never told him about Death Watch and how you knew about his connection to them. You never told him about how the first time you ever remember feeling truly happy and at home was on the Razor Crest with him and your son.

But now, you were out of time.

"Now might be the wrong time to ask, but will you marry me?" You let out a bitter half-laugh at his attempt at a joke.

"Yes. I'll marry you Din Djarin. In this lifetime. And every lifetime to come. As soon as we are out of here."

"As soon as we are out of here," He whispers, and you try to contain the sob as you press your lips to his one final time. "Now go, find him. I'm right behind you. I promise."

You set his head gently down on the ground and he gives you a final nod as you turn to grab both your new sabers. You can't look back or else you'll stay by his side - you know you will, so you don't look back, instead you ignite your new lightsabers and charge forward with the sole goal of finding your son.

____♡____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back on my bullshit. last chapter with these two will drop before the end of season 2. pinky swear. TPWK. 
> 
> check me out on tumblr @ perropascal


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